A Laughing Mouth

December 1, 2012

When’s the last time you laughed simply because you were experiencing incredible joy? The book of Job mentions having a mouth full of laughter, and lips that shout joy.

I’m not one to laugh easily, especially at dumb movies.  It has to be sarcastic, witty humor to evoke a laugh out of me.  I think when I laugh the hardest are times when I’m tired and something very insignificant (at least to others) floats through my mind and I become uncontrollable with laughter.  My kids call me “punchy” when I’m in that mood.  It’s more of a release, a healing type of belly laugh that my body needs and receives, when I just let it loose.

As for our lips shouting joy, I don’t see that too much except in an occasional church service where people get excited for a few minutes. Mostly I see and observe shouts when people are angry, or perhaps at a game when a team is winning…or losing…shouts of joy…or frustration.  Shouting is not usually associated  with joy, but it should be.

However you fill your days, whatever you speak this holiday season, I hope and pray that you are able to laugh (even at calamity) out loud, and that as you end your day – perhaps tired and worn out – somehow a shout of JOY will emerge (or perhaps surprisingly escape?) from your lips.  

You just might wake up with a skip in your step the next day…

A Huge Sigh....

November 30, 2012

In the book of Esther, the story goes of a plan to kill all of the Jews.  However, a young girl named Esther was instrumental in foiling these plans, and a day of deliverance from their enemies became a day of feasting and rejoicing for the Jews. They escaped death…therefore they rejoiced.  The experienced relief with a huge sigh…and celebration ensued!

Joy isn’t some elusive emotion that we have to pursue.  It’s a reaction to the One who pursued us.  Without Him, our companions for life would be sorrow and mourning.  But because He came and gave his life for us, He lives in and with us – He is our companion.

This Christmas season we will see “JOY” on plaques to hang on our walls, in ornaments to adorn our trees, on sweaters (if we dare wear a Christmas sweater), and in big lights around town.  But will “joy” be seen our faces?

I hope that I am reminded daily of deliverance that came to me, when I too was rescued from the hand of the enemy…once and for all.   I too can sigh daily in relief that death is no longer an enemy, but a defeated foe.  Joy to the World!

May JOY be yours, today.

The Reason for Joy

November 29, 2012

The better we understand God’s word, the more we find comfort in it; the darkness of trouble arises from the darkness of ignorance – Matthew Henry

A bit later, the people were being read to and began to understand what they were hearing.  Check it out in Nehemiah 8.  As they listened, they realized that yes indeed they are to be broken over what they hear and tender towards God.  However, God’s blessings should make them joyful.  In expressing that joy they would find strength.

In the reading of the law they heard about a feast, a type of “holy joy” in responding to God’s goodness.  This celebratory act had been neglected, and instead they had been going about their “duties” as observed in the law.  Duty alone will make us dutiful and depressed.  However, responding in joy will revive us and show those around us what true religion is all about.

God’s word brings us and others to repentance, revealing the sin inside us.  And God’s word then consoles and restores us by revealing the power in his Love to forgive.  

Holiness is always needed, sorrow for sin is required…but celebrating when finding consolation is life!  Sometimes we lose our joy simply because we are ignorant of why we have reason to celebrate.

The Sound of Joy

November 28, 2012

In Ezra, a hidden book in the Old Testament, there was a group of people building a new temple, laying the foundation again.  A time to celebrate for all…at least it seems so.  However, part of the group bemoaned the reasons behind why the new temple was being built.  This group compared it to the previous temple and deemed it inferior, and they just could not enter into the celebration.  The first group didn’t let this second group put a damper on things.  They realized a new foundation was being laid and were thankful for a new beginning.

The first group was full of joy, the Bible says.  The second group was weeping.  And it was hard to distinguish between the two because they were all so loud!

From that little story, I realize that as long as I cry aloud over past hurts, disappointments and failures…the weeping will drown out the joy.  But when I begin to give thanks that the hurts are healing, the disappointments were momentary, and He always wins…the joy will cause the weeping to subside.

There’s a time for weeping.  But there’s a time when weeping ends…and joyful celebration begins.  I want that sound to be one that I hear, He hears, and others hear…as my heart wells up with shouts of thanksgiving and affection for HIM!

Which sound wins out most days in your home?

JOY

November 27, 2012

It’s the season we sing “Joy to the World” which is well and good, but is there joy in our homes?

How can we offer joy to the world if we don’t have joy ourselves?  I’m wondering that myself, and I want to know more about joy…what it is…how to get it…how to keep it…how to share it.

I Chronicles 26 says that strength and joy are in his dwelling place.  I know He dwells inside me, and I often lean on His strength in my times of weakness.  There’s another verse that says the joy of the Lord IS my strength.  So strength and joy - these two are a pair that goes together like a pair of mittens.  As long as I’m wearing both pair, I’m covered…I’m warm…and I’m looking good! 

A directive follows the part about strength and joy in his dwelling place…and that is to “ascribe” to the Lord all that he gets credit for – all the good in our lives – all of creation – all power and majesty. I’m thinking when we realize the origin of all these things, a peace comes in knowing they belong to Him, he oversees them, he takes of them…and we have no worries.

That, my friend, is a realization that not only frees us to rest in peace…but to sing with joy!

Still Human

November 26, 2012

The best we can build with our hands will still crumble and fall…eventually.  Cracks will appear in the walls, the floors will be scratched from wear and tear, and the walls will need a new coat of paint sooner than later.  Human hands can build, bless, give, and create…but they’re still human.  

Have you ever walked into your present home and groaned saying something like this, “Oh I wish we could move!  This house is too small!” Or what about, “This house is driving me crazy – we need so many repairs!”  What about the home in which your body lives?  It too is decaying from the time you breathe your first breath. 

The hope we all have is that there is an “eternal house” as the II Corinthians puts it, not built by human hands.  The groaning and the discontent we feel down here is appropriate because this is not our final dwelling place.  The same verses say that we are “longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.”

If we live a long life on earth, we might end up in a small room with a TV and a bed, with someone to dress us and feed us.  That’s where my mother-in-law is today.  And she’s pretty much already “checked out” of her earthly dwelling – she has dementia.  But what remains intact is her love for God and others.  She goes around praying and blessing her friends at her home.  

Next time you’re disgruntled, discontent, frustrated, and bewildered by what you see around you – look up.  There’s another home being built to His specifications that will suit you forever.  Can you hardly wait to see it?