I remember about a year ago after hearing a sermon on joy, my friend and I repeatedly ran about saying "Joy! Joy! Joy!" all week long! It was our attitude to every little bother or hinderance....just smash it down with Joy!
Joy...what is it? I have a friend named Joy who's creative, sweet, seeks Jesus and is beautiful. But what is joy?
I've heard it said before that joy is not mere happiness. Happiness is much simplier than joy. Happines merely comes from a feeling of excitment that is dependant upon positive and ideal circumstances...therefore it can evaporate in just seconds.
Joy can be and is felt, but it is more than a feeling. For feelings come and go just as the wind....changing directions, light, absent, strong, comforting and more. So joy is not a feeling.
Joy is a state of the heart, more specific state of the soul.
Over the past month or so I've found myself mulling over joy in my life...in the midst of pretty much every area of my life...work, singleness, family, struggles, stalled dreams and more. Looking through the eyes of my flesh and its emotions, its easy to miss the joy that exist in it all. I found when you really sit down and make yourself ask "Where is the joy in this situation?" even the tought situations...then you always see it, I mean its not been hiding! It's always there.
Joy can be overlooked, smoothered, and choked out....but it always remains. He always remains. He is the consistent in the inconsistent. He is the strength admist weakness. He is the hope of tomorrow in today. He is the piercing ray in the smog. He is tender in the brutal battle.
Thank you Jesus for giving us continous, unending joy. For being our joy even admist the struggles, dryness, and hardships.
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