In an interview with on popular YouTube page “Channel 5”, Shia LeBeouf shared some of his experiences with sobriety, drunkenness, and his faith journey. The interview took place right after being arrested for battery during Mardi Gras in New Orleans and is being court ordered to go to rehab.

In the interview, he spoke about his longest span of sobriety being two years centers around the birth of his daughter. But he picked up the habit again, and not only does he claim not to regret it but enjoys the experience. He even romanticized he short time in jail.

Why? Because, as he claims, he struggles to find joy outside of alcohol.

His experience with AA and sobriety was joyless. There was an initial relief, a short spark of freedom that came from putting up the drink. But the steps were restricting. And as his sobriety became a law to him, it was no longer serving him but he was becoming a slave to it. At least when he was slave to alcohol there was spontaneity and mystery involved. In sobriety, there is no mystery, only clear directives on what to do or not to do.

Joy, as Shia says, is found in the mystery.

I resonate with this interview and the rawness with which Shia speaks. I, too, want to find seeds of joy and allow them to grow in me. But alcohol is not a good seed for joy. Shia is a great example of this truth. Alcohol, as seen through his life, is a seductress. Another lover whispering in his ear, his soul, wrapping chains around his life and experiences. For all the “fun” it has brought him, it has also brought about very public destruction.

Alcohol is a very temporary solution to a much larger issue. And that is the issue of joy. It is impossible to live a human life and not seek out joy. It is perhaps one of our greatest needs, to laugh and love and be happy.

The source of our joy needs to be something much more deeply rooted than alcohol, and something that is not destructive. We need a joy that will not betray us.

I agree with Shia, that joy is found in mystery. But we need to be present to the beautiful mystery of the ordinary inside and around ourselves.

The joy I speak of, a joy that will last and is not destructive, is found in grounding yourself into reality. Alcohol is a substance that aids you in running away from reality.

Shia has been lied to by the alcohol he consumes, that to experience mystery and joy a person also has to open themselves to being self destructive. Sober-minded prayer, time in nature, and serving others are ways I have experienced joy-filled mystery. Simply slowing down, breathing, and being aware is a wonderful way to nourish the seeds of joy that are already in you.

And I think that is the key. That the seeds of joy are already in you. Alcohol is in addition to who you are. But real and lasting joy is found when you no longer are dependent on a substance but have found the source.

When do the seeds of joy become a tree? I believe it is found in the person of Jesus, when we abide in him and he in us. When Jesus is close, joy grows in fullness. Those seeds of joy planted in us from birth are sourced from and watered by Jesus. We experience the fullness of joy when we ask the Spirit to live in us.

Alcohol is a false version of the Spirit, even Paul calls it out in the Scriptures “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). The joy of alcohol is a shadow of the joy of the Spirit, and alcohol is a cruel master.

Alcohol is not the only substance we abuse to give us joy. We use our screens and sugary foods and even relationships. Trade in what is temporary for what is full. Seek the things that nourish joy in you that does not also destroy you. I am praying that you may experience this permanent type of joy.

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