Make Room for Someone Else’s Joy

I want the people I love to feel free to bring me their good news. That means I need to welcome it without turning the conversation back to myself. Their joy can deserve my full attention even when I have something important happening, too.

Elizabeth (ee-LIZ-uh-beth) gives me a picture of that welcome. She was the mother of John the Baptist, who would later prepare people for Jesus. Before John was born, she and her husband had reached old age without children. Luke describes them as faithful to God (Luke 1:5–7).

Then Elizabeth became pregnant. She spoke of the pregnancy as God's kindness to her after the shame she had experienced among other people (Luke 1:24–25).

During her sixth month, her relative Mary came to visit. Mary was carrying Jesus. Elizabeth lived in the hill country of Judea (joo-DEE-uh), the region around Jerusalem. Christian tradition remembers their meeting at a site about five miles from Jerusalem's Old City, though Luke does not name the town.

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, her baby leaped. Filled with the Holy Spirit, she called Mary blessed and welcomed her as the mother of her Lord. She said, “Blessed is she who has believed” (Luke 1:45, NIV). Mary stayed with her for about three months (Luke 1:39–56).

Elizabeth's own life was changing. Yet her words made room for what God was doing in Mary's life. She named it aloud. Her welcome did not require Mary to make her news smaller. Both women could give thanks in the same home.

That welcome asks something simple of me. When a friend shares good news, I can stay with their story. I can ask what it means to them. I can resist following their first sentence with a longer account of my own experience.

I do not have to pretend that every part of my life is settled before I celebrate with someone. Joy and an unanswered hope can exist in the same person. I can be honest about my own life and still offer a kind, interested response.

For me, that might begin with putting down my phone and asking one more question. It might mean naming the work I saw someone put in, or simply saying that I am glad they told me.

I want my attention to say what Elizabeth's welcome showed: there is room here for your joy.