Delta Delta Delta

I had to drive to Kansas City today for a doctor's appointment. You might guess that my going to Kansas City would imply I was seeing some specialist only available in a larger city. In this case, it was my annual eye exam with the doctor who performed my cataract surgery several years prior. If you're wondering, until this year, he had an office in Topeka. One of my questions is going to be whether he is thinking about opening a Topeka office again. Anyway, I had several disjointed thoughts during the 1 ½ hour drive I thought I would share.

First, I realized I don’t like a lot of traffic. Over the years, we’ve lived in cities about the size of Topeka, slightly larger than Topeka and close to the size of Kansas City. Since it’s been about 30 years since we lived in New Orleans (close to the size of Kansas City), I had suppressed my memory of driving in a lot of traffic daily. Today, driving here, some of those memories flooded back. Young people often long to move to a big city due to having more experiences available. We were that way too until we moved to the big city and had to deal with all the unfavorable aspects of a big city.

“Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”” - Jonah 4:5-11 ESV

My second thought came from the radio. The DJ reminded me of the difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is situationally based. My son and his family are taking their daughter, our granddaughter, to Disneyland soon. I’m sure our granddaughter will be extremely happy with the experience, but eventually she’ll come home and it will be a memory. That happiness is based on the experience and, after that experience is over, it will fade over time.

Joy, on the other hand, is independent of the experience. A less than perfect example is the joy I have from my son. From the day he entered this world, I have loved him and found joy in his existence. I can’t imagine anything he could do that would make me not love him or find joy in him. I can be unhappy or disappointed in his choices, but that doesn’t take away my joy. 

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” - John 15:7-11

The world pushes the happy experiences­­­‑the trip to Disneyland, dinner at an expensive restaurant; the list goes on and on. These are marketable items. What the world can’t offer is joy. Joy can only be truly found from your faith in God.

The last thought I pondered was a car in front of me near Lawrence with a Delta Delta Delta sticker in the back window. I’m sure the person who owned the car was in the sorority. However, as someone with a math degree, I’ve used Greek symbols in different applications for a long time.  Delta, the Greek symbol, is often used to denote a change in something. 

Even though we think things are mostly constant, the world is constantly changing. I noticed this as I drove around Lawrence on K10. I’ve been on that road many times but not recently. It is being worked on to expand the lanes of traffic and create exits (rather than stoplights). I suspect if we look closely, we’ll see change all around us every day.

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” - James 1:16-18

Part of my joy in God is knowing he doesn’t change. His promises are iron-clad. How can I not be joyful knowing that I’ll be with him in heaven?

My bonus thought is about a dilated eye exam. If you’ve ever had one of these, they put drops in your eye to dilate your pupil so the doctor can use a magnifying glass to look at the back of your eyeballs. None of this is painful, but the drops take a while to wear off. I’ve always been a little scared driving home after my dilation because your vision isn’t as sharp and any light makes it even harder to see (imagine a flashlight being shined in your eye while you try to read something). I’ve never understood why they don’t outright tell me to have an accompanying driver to get home.  Such is life.