Finding Joy in Unlikely Places

When my daughter was in elementary school, she became friends with another girl whose family had recently moved to our town. Her mother and I connected, and I learned that they had come from Indonesia so she could attend graduate school at the local university, preparing to become a Christian minister. She shared that Christians were a minority in her homeland and often experienced discrimination.

One story she shared stayed with me. Her father, a civil engineer in his seventies, had been unfairly blamed for something that wasn’t his fault. Due to his religion, he was an easy scapegoat and was imprisoned. When she and her daughter visited him, they were surprised to find him smiling and full of joy, despite his circumstances. Her daughter asked, "How can you be happy when you are in prison?" He responded, "I’m able to be happy wherever I am because true happiness comes from within."

That conversation has stayed with me, especially in moments when I reflect on resilience and perspective. I was reminded of it recently by an image I saw. It showed a split screen: in the top window, a homeless boy sleeping in a torn-up cardboard box, looking discontent. In the lower window, the same boy, now in a sturdier cardboard box, appearing happy and content. It struck me how much the lens we view life through shapes our reality. Even when our circumstances don’t change dramatically, our relationship to them can shift everything.

There is a truth in this that is both simple and profound. We have the power to choose how we see our circumstances and how we respond. It’s not about denying pain or hardship but about recognizing that, even in difficulty, there is a place within us that has the potential to remain whole, grounded, and open to joy. Happiness, in its truest form, isn’t about where we are but about how we are with ourselves wherever we may be.

That doesn't mean it's easy. But it is possible. And that possibility can be enough to carry us through the hardest moments.