"But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee." Psalm 5:11
"Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You" ~Psalm 51:12
"These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full." ~John 15:11
Finally, "And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit." ~Acts 13:52
Let me say first off that in the interest of time and for the benefit of my readers, I have done left out the context of each of these verses. Please by all means go read the entire passage, it will certainly only contribute to the following lesson which I am going to be discussing. Secondly, I realize that this is in no way an exhausted list, there are literally THOUSANDS of verses dealing with joyfullness of spirit and gladness of heart. These verses however are sufficient for the purposes of this article.
In Rio one of the things that Austin and I did on a regular basis once we completed several construction projects and developed basic vocabulary, was to play basketball with the children that would come and hang out everyday looking for something to do.
One day in particular, I noticed a boy with an extremely contented countenance. While all the other kids ran, screamed, vandalized, used profanities to see if we would notice, tried to remember the things we asked them not to do so that they could do them, and performed minor surgeries on the small, weaker specimens, he was smiling. He was always smiling. I realized that I really never saw him not smiling. I wondered what was wrong with him, and that is when I realized God had an important lesson to teach me and this small boy was the object of that lesson.
Let's face the music this is what we do as humans. We see someone completely content and comfortable and instead of asking what is wrong with me that I am not experiencing that level of joy or contentment we quickly conclude, "Oh! there's something wrong with him. I'll just mind my own business." I do it! We all do it. But my question is what if we could allow our minds and our spirits to be transformed so that we live in this state of joy. What if everyday Christians lived their lives in such a way that people on the outside were forced to ask the question, "What is wrong with them? Why are they so happy?"
I wanted that joy, and I know that Christ died so that I could HAVE that joy. I think about my friends, and I cannot forget Dru Holdren, a fantastic friend and truely an inspiration. Even in difficult situations he always is bubbling over with joy and can make an impact on everyone around him with a constant smile, and ever rejoicing countenance. I wanted that joy!
Every Christian should not only have this joy, but should actively be living it out. But how will this affect others you ask. Well let's face the facts, most likely they are going to do the same thing we do in our daily lives and say, "Oh my, he..well he is just, special." GUESS WHAT? We know that we have met the all-powerful ruler of the universe and He has declared us--What? He says He "Knew us." That means WE ARE SPECIAL!
It is way past time for us to get beyond our piousnessly long and stern faces and start enjoying the amazing creations and beautiful treasures all around us. We are blessed more than any other nation, and we have the opportunity to experience joy and laughter and appreciate God's truth every day. Yet how many of us are so concerned with work, kids, bills, american idol, or the next top model, that we never take the time to smile?
Do we wonder why churches aren't full? Are we unsure why fellow believers do not want to sit in a pew for one hour every week? Do we fail to see why there are so few new believers? I think have a pretty good answer for all of these questions.
I decided that I wanted to live my life constantly looking for the good. Always finding the glad and experiencing the joy in the day to day and living each moment to it's highest. I wasn't sure if I had begun to succeed or not, until the other day someone asked, "What's wrong with you?" "Why are you so happy?" I just sighed and smiled.
Actually, I can testify that if you walk down a busy sidewalk with a sincere smile on your face people WILL stare as if you suffer from down syndrome. The bad news however, is that when you become aware, I have learned it will only make you chuckle to yourself and cause your smile to grow all the bigger and brighter. Now those around are really concerned. At this point you will start getting glares...please resist the urge to laugh out loud, the average person has no idea how to handle seeing someone walking along laughing all alone and they are 100% confident at this point that they should call the boys with white suits.
This is what I would like all of my readers to try. Purpose to be joyful and to actively be aware of those good things around that will bring a smile to your face. A flower, a sunrise, an ice cream cone, a happy puppy getting into mischief, maybe a Bible verse (who would have thought about that right), a kitty chasing a ball of string, your favorite hymn, a child laughing and playing outside, or quietly with their toys, anything in the day to day that you would normally be too 'busy' to appreciate. My personal favorite is watching someone trip on the sidewalk. Usually just a stumble but occasionally you will get an full on squirrel dive! Make sure they are not injured and then don't feel badly about laughing hystarically. If you do witness a good trip that can usually last you an entire day all by itself.
Here is a perfect example of how this works. To the untrained eye it would appear that I am simply enjoying a cable car right through beautiful Hong Kong.
Take a closer look.I am actually truly appreciating one of the most sincerely humorous things around me.This is your social assignment and if conducted properly I promise you will receive strange looks, peculiar stares, funny questions, and maybe even make a few odd friends. Either way the world will be more accepting of who you are, and more willing to understand what you believe if each day is lived as if it were your first and brightest, and each night enjoyed as if it were your last and best. I wake up smiling about getting to cook breakfast (my favorite part of the day), and go to bed each night thankful and excited about the chance to rest. Each step between the two is just an additional bonus because God is good and has given us so much to enjoy and experience!
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