Joy is Not Made to Be a Crumb

Don’t Hesitate

“If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.” - Mary Oliver

Even as I was searching for Mary Oliver’s poem, “Don’t Hesitate,” I came across other bloggers that have commented on this same poem. It’s definitely a good one, and I think that’s why so many others feel compelled to talk about it. And I guess I’m just another person on the Mary Oliver bandwagon now. :)

I just got off of a FaceTime call with two sweet friends I used to rub shoulders with in Charlottesville, VA. All three of us have moved on from that beautiful little town, and now live in Rhode Island, Northern Virginia, and Georgia. And yet, even with our lives so far apart, we can still be yet so close and commune over something as beautiful as a little poem.

We sat and held our phones an arm’s length away from our faces today, and connected over every little thing: boys, jobs, joys and sorrows, poetry. Ash, my beloved friend and old roommate, concluded our conversation today with this Mary Oliver poem. It summarized so well what we were getting at in our conversation today: Joy is not made to be a crumb. Joy is meant to explode from us! It’s meant to be taken by the horns and appreciated for everything it has to offer us. It’s meant to be lived out. It’s meant to be seen, experienced fully, enjoyed, loved.

I. Love. Joy. And I love joy exactly because we were created for it. We were made to see it and experience it in its fullness. We weren’t made to live life half-heartedly. Why else would we have been given hearts that feel? Hearts that can be full? Cups that can overflow? Seeing the glass as completely full? It doesn’t have to be half empty! Or even half full, for that matter!

Another friend, Ariel, came to mind as Ash, Anna, and I concluded our FaceTime today. Ariel told me once, “Anna, rather than thinking about everything that could go wrong, think about everything that could go right.” Can I get an amen?? Joy invites just this kind of perspective. When we live in its fullness, we see life through the lens of “what could go right.” We paint a beautiful picture, listen to an uplifting narrative, and find life enjoyable in its wake. Let’s be in joy today. Let’s appreciate the banquet it lays before us. Life is worth the living!