(29.) J is for Joy

(29.) J is for Joy

“Be of good cheer,” says Jesus. To which many students reply, “except in school.” Too many schools are hamster wheels, an unending race to compile and retain information, teaching our students to be young workaholics in the process. But what does this supposed joy of learning look like? Actually, we already know. Just look at the infant when he first discovers his toes; the toddler exploring the kitchen cabinets for pots and pans; the preschooler playing with new-found trash in the backyard; the sailor spotting a whale; the navigator recognizing a long-lost constellation; the archeologist on the hunt for a suspected archaic culture; the philosopher having a brainstorm. Look at the faces of all those learners, and listen to their heartbeat, and you will know what the joy of learning looks like. This look doesn’t have to be a luxury in our schools.

There are many other ways to experience joy in school: the secure boundaries found in redemptive discipline; the repentant insight discovered in tough love; the deep gladness felt in worthwhile progress after hard work; the light-heartedness when friends have time to enjoy each other; the relief and appreciation when teacher and student connect and develop a relationship; the satisfaction during artistic self-expression. And the list goes on. There really can be a joy of spirit, a playful dignity in the midst of academic focus in school.

In Christ-centered schools, this joy of learning intersects with the joy of following Jesus. For the creeping poisons peculiar to Christian communities find their antidote in biblical joy: One can’t be both joyful and sanctimonious, or provincial, or hair-splitting, or judgmental, or humorless. Spiritual joy dissolves those unfortunate qualities of the merely religious, of whom we all claim membership even if we don’t like to think so.

We would do well to pray daily for an infectious joy to characterize daily school life. Let’s pray that we would center on Christ, who came to complete our joy and provide life to the full… the intellectual life, the artistic life, the social life, the physical life, the love life, the family life. Let wholesome joy be a distinctive part of the school’s culture.