Joy for the Sour Puss

I believe that God has given each of us a "thorn in our flesh" (see 2 Corinthians 12:7) so to speak. If you read more in 2 Corinthians 12, you see why having a thorn in your flesh can be a good thing. In my case, my "thorn" is negativity - despite my possibly encouraging blog posts - I feel rather morose and melancholy. It's easy for me to feel that way, and see the glass closer to half empty than half full. I can't really tell you exactly why God chose to give me the rather disastrous gift, but He must have a reason. Alright, so you're probably wondering where I'm going with all this and I will give you one word: joy.

As a small, naive little five year old, joy was the second Fruit of the Spirit that I learned about. To me (and the rest of my Sunday School class) joy was laughter and happiness; toys and ice cream - and dare I say it - Elmo. When I began getting older, joy was just joy - a simple word people talked of. And as the years went by, I found joy was just...a mystery. According to the dictionary, joy means: "the emotion of great happiness" - but I really think it's so much more. After all...anyone can be happy, but can anyone be joyful?

As I sit on a beach and write this, pondering what I could possibly say, I realize the bible is the right thing to point to. Here's what true joy is:

"Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will enter Jerusalem singing, crowned with everlasting joy. All sorrow and mourning will disappear, and they will be filled with joy and gladness." Isaiah 35:10

I feel like as humans (very, very sinful humans) we are always searching for joy. I believe we spend so much time searching that we don't just sit still and find what's right in front of our faces. I say this only because I know from experience. I spent so much time searching, that I didn't realize joy was just a breath - a breath away. No, you can't find joy in anything of this earth - no sports, no person, no joy, nothing can give you beautiful joyfulness. Each time we do a petty search for joy, we end up with joylessness instead of joyfulness. But things that are not of this earth? Well, there's a lot more to it than you think. Only (and I mean only) can our Father give us pure, perfect joy. Nothing else can, but Him, and I know this for a fact. Krystal Meyers wrote this awesome song called "Only You Make Me Happy", and it's only a good song because only God can make us happy.

Feeling not joyful? I felt not joyful when I began writing this blog, and just talking about being joyful has made me, well, joyful. Yes, sometimes it is a little hard to be joyful, but there are easy solutions. If you're not feeling very joyful, my challenge to you is to look up the word "joy" in your bible and circle every verse that contains it - you'll find there are a lot more verses that mention joy than you thought. If you're not feeling joyful, go out and do something that would make someone else feel joyful. If you're not feeling joyful...go seek the Father, because He is the one that will show you true joy.