Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Third Week in Advent - Joy

So, last week I said the topic for the week was 'waiting' when in actuality, it should have been 'joy'. Obviously, I needed to talk about waiting....



Anyway - I'll write about Joy this week and Love for next week.



Joy is very different from happiness. We always want to be 'happy' but happiness is a very fleeting emotion. It is dependent upon outside forces. We are 'happy' if our kids behave well or our spouse is generous to us. We are happy if our presentation at work goes well or if dinner turns out great. But what if none of these things happen? Are we doomed to go through life being unhappy because the people around us are not catering to us every moment of every day?



That would be a pretty horrible existence.



Joy, on the other hand has nothing to do with what is going on around us. Joy is not dependent on whether or not our kids behave or our spouse showers us with affection. Joy has to do with with God and how his love for us affects us. We can always have joy, no matter what our circumstances, because we know that God is with us. We can be joyful even in the midst of grief or terrible adversity because we know that God loves us with a fierce, strong love that we cannot even completely comprehend. We can be joyful even when it feels as if the entire world is against us because we know that God is for us.

Joy, comes from knowing that no matter what we go through in this life, we will have an eternity in heaven and that always tips the scale in our favor.

Have a wonderful, joy-filled Christmas.

CS

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." -Romans 5:13

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