Joy is my favorite fruit of the Spirit

While talking to my dear friend Karin this morning, I started hopping in place because I felt so full of love and happiness about life in general. She said, "Keep jumping an lots of people will be feeling some joy." She was referring to my jumblies, but nonetheless, my joy was uncontainable. Since I don't have a tail to wag, jumping up and down is sometimes the best way to release pent up joy, right up there with singing off-key and hugging. Joy is one of the most contagious and rewarding emotions. As one exudes it, joy returns multiplied by the sharing, a gift from God that we can give and get inexhaustably.

Now, today at church Pastor Dave talked about a different kind of joy, not in the sense of being happy but in the sense of knowing God is in control of our lives as well as the rest of the universe. He said true joy isn't about smiling and laughing necessarily; it's about trusting that whatever worldy things are going on, God loves and is caring for us. True joy is best measured in times of woe because that gives us the opportunity to count it all joy. I like this--suffering as a doorway to joy. Pastor Dave analogized joy to diamonds. When you put a real diamond underwater it intensifies it's brilliance. Unlike with a fake one, the genuine shines forth.

Even when I'm wrestling with life, the faith that nothing stands against me besides self makes all my worries transient. Fortunately, I don't have a lot of woe in my life. This is probably the most reletively woeless times I've experienced. The only reason I'm able to enjoy this current boon in life is because God delivered me from harder times. I frequently pray for memory so that I will remember these moments when the worm of life inevitably turns.  However, he has also turned my suffering into understanding, expanding my capacity for joy. It makes it easy to be thankful hardship in the aftermath. Hopefully, I'll allow the light of joy to light my way throughout the upcoming seasons in life, no matter how dark those times may seem. If you're a friend, you may remind me of this when you catch me whining.