C. S. Lewis called them “stabs of joy.” They were those moments of ecstasy that come at the most unforeseen times and often from the smallest incidents. As a child Lewis felt these piercings of his heart when seeing a picture of the Norse gods… and he was enraptured by the power of the scene, and its otherworldly “Northerness.” Music also could evoke these flashes of bliss for him. The search for joy became a focused desire of his life. Indeed, his autobiography is entitled Surprised By Joy and it is there he describes how he found the deepest desires of his heart fulfilled only when he discovered true joy in Christ.

I had one of these stabs of joy on the way to work this morning. Continue reading →