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NIV is used unless otherwise noted.



Joy, Joy, Joy


I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
John 15:11

In most doctors’ offices, there is a chart picturing levels of pain. The question may come, on a scale from one to ten, what is your current pain level? Using that scale, what is your joy level today? 

A number one may mean that you are digging deep to find joy. You may be worried or even sad. Would a five be sort of joyful or thinking about being joyful?  And then there’s the top of the scale. If that’s where you are, you are bursting with joy, feeling good.

 Do you remember the little chorus that we used to sing?  I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, down in my heart, down in my heart, down in my heart. That’s a ten for me.

My mother used to diagnose my joy level.  She would say, “you’ve got your hummer going again.”  I realized that I was humming along as I did my chores, shopped, or drove around. To her, that was a good sign that things were going okay in my life. 

I rediscovered my hummer recently.  I catch myself humming in my house, while I’m shopping, perhaps driving. A cashier or another shopper often comments to me, “sounds like you are really happy”.  And so I am.

You may be familiar with the passage of scripture in Galatians 5:22 which lists fruit of the Spirit. The first three are love, joy, peace. When I love God first and others second, a real sense of His peace comes over me. And what is between love and peace? There it is-JOY! Go for it!

Lynda S.

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