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Joy

Isaiah 35: 6

Then will the lame leap like a deer,


and the mute tongue shout for joy.

Water will gush forth in the wilderness

and streams in the desert
 
 
 
This week's Advent candle is Joy.  In Sunday school we talked about the passage above.  We did a little thing where we hit the mute button and then we shouted Joy.  Joy is definitely one of those things that is a mystery to me.  I don't talk about it much in day to day conversation.  How about you?  I think it's something to be achieved.  But at others, like when I'm reading about the fruit of the spirit, I think it's a gift, not something that I can go out and capture, but instead, something that captures me.
 
This is the second definition of joy at dictionary.com 
 
a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something or someone greatly valued or appreciated
 
The other fun thing at dictionary.com is that it says that a synonym for joy is rapture.  That might very well, change a couple of conversations for me.  If rapture is a source of delight in the way that joy is, then it all makes sense. 
 
When I delight myself in God, then the things of this world fade away and put themselves in the proper perspective.  So this joy thing isn't about being happy and smiling all the time, it's about a remembrance of where the greatest good comes from, Jesus.  He came to bring us a glimpse of the joy that will one day be ours if we choose to believe in him and to give our selves over to him. 
 
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