Why settle for happiness when you can pursue joy

Last week, after spending 22 years in prison, Jonathan Irons became a free man. At the age of 16, Irons was charged as an adult for a crime he didn't commit - a wrong that got corrected thanks in large part to the sacrifice of an incredible human being.

Maya Moore, one of the greatest athletes our country has ever seen - she won multiple NCAA basketball championships, Olympic gold medals and several WNBA championships - walked away from her career to devote her life full-time to freeing Irons.

At the height of her career, she gave up chasing trophies to chase justice for a friend.

Obviously, there is a lot to this story. I'll include a link to one of the media stories in the comments.

But it's had me asking myself the last few days: who does that? Who devotes their whole life to becoming the best in the world at something only to walk away from it the minute the goal is achieved. Not just walk away, but walk away solely to fight for one other human being.

I've considered that it's possible the person who does that is one who decides to start chasing joy and not happiness.

I've been thinking about that difference a lot lately - the difference between joy and happiness. I've thought about it for many hours out walking and running the last few weeks. And I guess the only thing I've concluded is this: I believe happiness can be found outside of meaningful relationships with people. Joy, on the other hand, is impossible outside of those relationships.

Moore said this about walking away from basketball:

"When I stepped away two springs ago, I just really wanted to shift my priorities to be able to be more available and present to show up for things that I felt were mattering more than being a professional athlete."

What mattered more was her relationship with Irons. I would suggest maybe she walked away from the pursuit of happiness for the promise of joy.

There is a powerful image of Moore dropping to her knees and looking upward - with pure joy - as she watched Irons walk out of prison into freedom for the first time in over 20 years. It's a different look than the one she had holding up NCAA championship trophies and MVP awards. There was something deeper looking to it. There was something more permanent about it.

Bob Goff said something in his devotional this morning. "Quit waiting for permission to do what you were made for. Go love everybody."

I don't know, reading those words from Moore I feel her saying she walked away from basketball to do what she was made to do. And maybe that is where joy comes from. Moore said this in an interview on Good Morning America:

"The first step for anybody is ... I would say get to know somebody who isn't exactly like you and doesn't come from the same background as you, educate yourself and then just keep showing up," Moore said. "Finding ways to show up for people and your voice will come out of that relationship and out of your pursuit to seeing people who aren't exactly like you."

"Your voice will come out of that relationship."

I think there is a difference between a voice that is happy, and a voice that is full of joy. I think a voice can be happy holding a trophy, I think a voice is full of joy when it's holding a hand. I think the world ultimately runs out of trophies - but hands - hands aren't going anywhere, and so many of them need a voice.

So many of them need us to quit waiting for permission to go do what we were made to do.