{"id":16862,"date":"2025-12-30T21:53:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T20:53:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/?p=16862"},"modified":"2025-12-31T10:28:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T09:28:34","slug":"give-in-to-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/2025\/12\/30\/give-in-to-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"Give in to joy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Don’t hesitate: A poem<\/h3>\n

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
\ndon’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
\nof lives and whole towns destroyed or about
\nto be. We are not wise, and not very often
\nkind. And much can never be redeemed.
\nStill, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
\nis its way of fighting back, that sometimes
\nsomething happens better than all the riches
\nor power in the world. It could be anything,
\nbut very likely you notice it in the instant
\nwhen love begins. Anyway, that’s often the
\ncase. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
\nof its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.
\n <\/p>\n

from Devotions<\/a><\/em> by Mary Oliver<\/strong>, p. 61
\n <\/p>\n\n

Benediction for the New Year<\/h3>\n

Let us look for Christ wherever we go.<\/p>\n

Let us never stop seeking,
\nbelieving that there is a light that shines in the darkness
\nwhich the darkness shall not overcome<\/p>\n

And may the love of the Creator,
\nthe joy of the Spirit
\nand the peace of the Christ-child
\nbe with you this New Year, and evermore. <\/p>\n

 
\n~ by Cara Heafey<\/strong>, posted on re:Worship<\/a><\/p>\n\n

From the blog<\/strong>
\n3 prayers for the New Year<\/a>
\nOn the threshold of tomorrow<\/a>
\nOn Writing Prayer-Poems<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don’t hesitate: A poem 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 … Continue reading “Give in to joy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[84,63],"tags":[274],"class_list":["post-16862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-benediction","category-poetry","tag-joy2025"],"yoast_head":"\nGive in to joy - Prayer matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A poem by Mary Oliver about giving in to joy and a benediction for the new year, encouraging us to look for Christ wherever we go.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/2025\/12\/30\/give-in-to-joy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Give in to joy - 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Together we started this low-key outdoor art project in my neighbourhood in Rotterdam, open to passersby. We meet for a few hours on a Friday afternoon when we can, weather-permitting. We call ourselves \"ZO MA outdoor art\". (ZO\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "benediction"","block_context":{"text":"benediction","link":"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/category\/benediction\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/adults_at_play.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/adults_at_play.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/adults_at_play.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/adults_at_play.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7405,"url":"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/2019\/05\/10\/theme-rejoice-in-the-lord-always\/","url_meta":{"origin":16862,"position":4},"title":"Theme: Rejoice in the Lord always","author":"Irene Bom","date":"May 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"PDF version \u00a0 This prayer sheet is inspired by a recurring theme in Scripture: the phrase, \u201cRejoice in the Lord\u201d. \u00a0 For personal use or to share. Joy is distinctly a Christian word and a Christian thing. It is the reverse of happiness. Happiness is the result of what happens\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "prayer sheet"","block_context":{"text":"prayer sheet","link":"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/category\/prayer-sheet\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2704,"url":"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/2017\/10\/18\/from-generation-to-generation\/","url_meta":{"origin":16862,"position":5},"title":"From generation to generation","author":"Irene Bom","date":"October 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Do you recognize any of the names? I certainly recognize a few ... This weekend I was part of a Presbytery Local Church Review team to St Andrews Church, Gibraltar. On Saturday, at the close our meeting with the church leaders, I read this benediction based on Psalm 103: As\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "benediction"","block_context":{"text":"benediction","link":"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/category\/benediction\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/ministers_st_andrews_gibraltar.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/ministers_st_andrews_gibraltar.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/ministers_st_andrews_gibraltar.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/ministers_st_andrews_gibraltar.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Irene Bom","author_link":"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/author\/irenebom-com\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/category\/benediction\/\" rel=\"category tag\">benediction<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/category\/poetry\/\" rel=\"category tag\">poetry<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Don’t hesitate: A poem 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…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16862\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irenebom.com\/prayer_matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}