Joy, Joyful, Joyous - Tis the Season

A song that starts “Joy to the world, the Lord has come” rings through the night air from carolers in the coming months.  Everyone can picture joy.  It is the new father and mother holding their infant.  It is the feeling when one is reunited with a loved one, or the climax when a big decision is favorable.  I am joyful when I hear my daughter sing or play Minecraft with my son.  However, what I am describing is joy for a small time in large doses.  Life happens and many tend to long for that joy they had yesterday, last year, or in their glory days.

Joy can be everyday

Psalm 118:24 sums it up best:

This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Think about the ways that joy can fill every moment:

• We are alive.  Isn’t that worth being joyful?
• Each day the Lord’s mercies are new.  Isn’t that worth being thankful.
• For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning (Psalms 30:5). Isn’t God’s comfort, empathy, and favor worth it?
• Joy is sustainable throughout our lives (Ecclesiastes 8:15).  Isn’t it wonderful that joy can fill those voids in our lifetime?

Joy is around us everywhere, waiting for us to consume it, to breathe it in, and to cherish it.  Every day tis the season for Joy.