Joel you had some some good things to say about peace, in fact you summarized all that I had to say in my mini article. Peace is the outcome but how do we get there, the only answer (and most christian one mind you) is reliance upon Christ because He is the one who knows who this self is you are trying wholly to be. Anyways, another concept that was similarly ellusive is Joy. Even when it seems that life is running perfectly you can be without peace and joy. Conversely when life sucks, when you get suspended from your job, break your windshield, your automatic windows, and then throw up all on the same day you can still find a fragment of peace and joy when someone stands next to you and holds you hand through it. So here is my article on joy.

Joy ('joi)
Noun: the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires; delight

Honestly how often do you hear the word joy in everyday conversation? We hear happy a lot and the above definition seems interchangeable with that of “happiness” but there’s more to “joy” than simply happiness and I believe we can discover what it is when we examine the usage of each word. A movie can make us happy, and we wish people a happy birthday. If we are in a good mood we say we are happy. But joy, our language seems to reserve for more special occasions, for instance: when talking about someone or thing very important we call it our “pride and joy,” when something amazingly good happens we say we are “overjoyed”, etc. Those times of feeling overjoyed or full of joy usually also only occur when we are sublimely content, and more often than not this type of contentment is very elusive. We cheer ourselves up by going to a movie or hanging out with friends but we will not find joy that way. Joy comes to us and how long it stays usually depends on how willing we are to receive it. I suppose the real question then is not what the difference between happiness and joy is but instead where does joy come from, what does it look like when it does, and what desires is it filling that normal happiness does not? So take some time, use the materials provided and share your understanding of word with us.