WHAT IS JOY?
Joy is the experience of gratitude, of being glad for life in the presence of the Giver of life. Joy is also the will to give back to another something of what one is and has for the sheer desire of sharing the gift. Joy is a blend of gratitude and giving. This truth was brought home to me one night after hearing Isaac Stern play Brahms violin concerto in D Minor. We all received his gift and we blessed him for it by our applause. He bowed and accepted our gift of praise! We stood. Some of us called "Bravo, Bravo!" I was in ecstasy, and I suddenly became aware that I had more joy in the applause than in the concert itself. I had felt the goodness of Stern's gift and was giving freely of my gift in return. And I knew that this experience was a paradigm of human joy in a life given by a loving Creator.
Jesus told us that His reason for coming and speaking in our world was to share His joy with us (John 17:13). We have joy only in fragments, to be sure, and we need to savor the moments when our hearts are opened to the goodness of life, no matter what the occasion. It may be in a rush of God's Spirit through our being while we pray. It may be in the loving embrace of another person, the good fellowship of friends, the discovery of a new insight into a piece of art, or the shimmering beauty of a sunset over the ocean. No matter, whenever we feel within that life is good and return the gift of thanks, joy has entered into life.
From Mere Morality by Lewis B. Smedes
Related Bible Texts: Nehemiah 8:10; Psalm 4:7; Romans 15:13; Philippians 4:1
YES!! there is truly something about experiencing God--no matter in what circumstances and no matter where--that causes me to literally go to the floor on my knees in eucharisteo!...an overwhelming, overflowing-from-the-depths-of-my-core shout-it-to-the-mountains THANKSGIVING! And then, it's almost impossible to NOT share that "feeling"--that gratitude for, well, everything. Somehow, everything becomes a blessing, an opportunity, gains a new face, a purpose, a pathway through the forest not seen before. A paradigm shift in thinking and in acting. Thank you, Debbie for this!
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