This week, I noticed an unusual happiness on the faces of a few friends and colleagues who usually do a very good job of masking their feelings. That change caught my attention, so I asked what was going on. One of them said, “Bro, the stock market is slaying it this week. We’re back to pre-tariff rates!”

It’s good news, of course. The economy is showing signs of vitality; people are feeling a bit more secure. These are welcome changes after a season of financial uncertainty. And it’s always a blessing to see people more cheerful and relaxed. But it also made me think.

As I reflected on it, I was reminded that true joy does not come from Wall Street. It doesn’t rise and fall with the Dow Jones or Nasdaq. Joy is not a commodity. It is a gift from God.

That truth was reinforced during a pastoral visit this week. One of my patients, a man who spent his entire career in banking, shared something that stayed with me. “I pray daily, a thousand times,” he said. “You know what I pray for? For a good night’s sleep. You are young—you probably don’t know what it means to be sleepless for days and weeks. At this stage of my life, sleep is what I pray for.”

This was a man who used to begin each morning with the financial section of the paper. For someone like him to say that a good night’s sleep - not profit margins - is his deepest longing... that said it all.

In a world where so much depends on performance, projections, and percentages, may we not forget that our joy must be rooted in something unshakable. Not the stock market. Not our careers.

Joy is not found in the rise of numbers, but in the nearness of God, for “in His presence there is fullness of joy; at His right hand are pleasures forever.” —Psalm 16:11

May He grant us the peace that surpasses understanding, and the joy that lasts forever.