Talkin' About Joy Posted by Ashleigh Slater on March 1, 2008

By the age of five or six, I had the children's song "I've Got the Joy in My Heart" memorized. Backward and forward. Not only that, but I was quite willing to sing it at the top of my lungs any time, any place.

I remember one particularly long road trip. My family found ourselves in traffic moving at a snail's pace. To pass the time, one of my sisters and I opened the back window of our station wagon and started singing every song we'd learned in Sunday School as loud as our little voices allowed. I guess you could say it was our childhood attempt at "street" evangelism. And I have no doubt "I've Got the Joy in My Heart" was included in our repertoire.

While joy was an easy concept for me to sing about as a child, it's not always an easy fruit of the Spirit for me to practice as an adult. Which is exactly why I wanted to devote an entire month to discussing joy on Ungrind. We kick off that discussion today.

We start with Amy Storm's article, "Becoming a Glass Half-Full Kind of Girl." I love this piece because it reminds me of the importance of perspective. Amy writes:

A few years ago, when the only cheery thing in life was my Prozac, I realized there must be more. After all, hadn't Jesus promised abundance? My life was characterized by anger, paralyzing fear, and discontentment—not the joyous life I read about in Scripture. How had I lost my joy so completely?

Answer: focus. My focus—my spiritual eyesight—was impaired. I began to see that joy comes, not from the absence of problems, but from the presence of Jesus. Only when we focus on Him completely can we truly experience the joy He offers.

She goes on to look at three individuals in Scripture who walked in joy, regardless of their circumstances. It's an article that sets the stage well for the rest of the month's pieces on joy.

We also have a review by Danielle Ayers Jones on the book Shopping for Time: How to Do It All and Not Be Overwhelmed. I had the opportunity to read this book myself in late December. While I'm still working to put many of its suggestions into practice, I found it to be challenging, encouraging, and helpful. Danielle offers a clear, concise look at what you can expect if you too pick up the book.

As we start a new month and begin our look at joy, what are your thoughts? 

Comments

[dee]

wow, as a current optometry student amy storm's article really stuck out to me b/c i know the importance of vision..however, it did make me think of my own spiritual vision and how important it is to keep my focus on Jesus. its soo easy to think about all the worries/concerns in my life..it made me realize that I do need to turn my attention off myself and back to the Lord to experience true joy.