Joy

Jeremiah 9:23-24

1 John 1: 1-4., Philippians 2: 1-4

John 16:19-24

JOY

According to Scriptures, God has certain attributes:  Love, Peace, and Joy are the three most sited.

Think for a moment about what gives you real joy. Not what makes you feel good, or even what makes us happy, but what kinds of things give you that deeper down feeling that just fills your heart to overflowing?

I bet you have been to parties like I have where people have been "happy". Lots of laughter and fun.  And of course there are the "happy hours" at bars.  A passing grade on a school test, a merciful State Patrolman who doesn't give us a ticket when he has reason to,  or a well cooked meal--all reasons for being happy.  5 pm on Friday can be a cause for happiness for many working people..

Many things can make us unhappy too.  An argument, a failing grade on a school test,  a speeding ticket,  burning the lima beans. Unhappiness, or a series of unhappy events, can lead to serious consequences.  Higher insurance rates for too many speeding tickets, ineligibility for sports because of too many poor grades.  Or perhaps divorce because of too many arguments and burned lima beans.

Happiness is something we sometimes devote lots of energy to finding, only too often to have it slip through our fingers rather easily almost as soon it is experienced. 

The Declaration of Independence and our Constitution declare our human rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. But the pursuit of happiness can be a wild roller coaster ride, and in the ride some people wind up going up and down between feelings of great highs, and the depths of despair.   In the process of riding the highs and lows, sometimes people hit lows they cant climb out of. Or the lows lead to disaster. 

There is a huge difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is often confused with joy, and the two words are too often used interchangeably. Happiness is elusive, here today, gone tomorrow.

A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the Doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. Still groggy from surgery, her husband, David, held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest news. That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency caesarean to deliver the couple's new daughter, Danae Lu Blessing.

At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound and nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature. Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs. "I don't think she's going to make it", he said, as kindly as he could. "There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one". Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Danae would likely face if she survived. She would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on.

"No! No!" was all Diana could say. She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four. Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away. Through the dark hours of morning as Danae held onto life by the thinnest thread, Diana slipped in and out of sleep, growing more and more determined that their tiny daughter would  live - and live to be a healthy, happy young girl. But David, fully awake and listening to additional dire details of their daughter's chances of ever leaving the hospital alive, much less healthy, knew he must confront his  wife with the inevitable.

David walked in and said that we needed to talk about making funeral arrangements. Diana remembers. "I felt so bad for him because he was doing everything trying to include me in what was going on, but I just wouldn't listen, I couldn't listen." I said, "No, that is not  going to happen, no way! I don't care what the doctors say; Danae is not going to die! One day she will be just fine, and she will be coming home with us!"

 As if willed to live by Diana's determination, Danae clung to life hour after hour, with the help of every medical machine and marvel her miniature body could endure. But as those first days passed, a new agony set in for David and Diana. Because Danae's underdeveloped nervous system was essentially 'raw,' the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love. All they could do, as Danae struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to their precious little girl. There was never a moment when Danae suddenly grew stronger.

But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there. At last, when Danae turned two months old, her parents were able to hold  her in their arms for the very first time.  And two months later - though doctors continued to gently but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal life, were next to zero - Danae went home from the hospital, just as her mother had predicted.

Five years later, Danae was a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She showed no signs, whatsoever, of any mental or physical impairment. Today, at age 21, she is everything a young woman can be and more. She is bright and feisty and making her way well in the world.

But that happy ending is far from the end of her story. One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in Irving, Texas, 5 year old  Danae was sitting in her mother's lap in the bleachers of a local ballpark where her brother, Dustin's, baseball team was practicing. As always, Danae was chattering nonstop with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her arms across her chest, Danae asked, "Do you smell that?" Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana replied, "Yes, it smells like rain." Danae closed her eyes and again asked, "Do you smell that?" Once again, her mother replied, "Yes, I think we're about to get wet; it smells like rain.

Still caught in the moment, Danae shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced, "No, it smells like him. It smells like God when you lay your head on his chest."  Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Danae then happily hopped down to play with the other children. Before the rains came, in that moment her daughter's words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended family had known, at least in their hearts, all along. During those long days and nights of her first two months of her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Danae on his chest and it is his loving scent that she remembers so well.

There is joy in knowing God no matter what the circumstances. How wonderful is God's healing!  But, it is still more wonderful when healing is no longer the vital issue.  The really important issue is this matter of our having taken in "the fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ."  It is in trusting in the love of God as he is concerned with every slightest detail in our lives. It is in trusting God and doing as he wishes that brings us much more than happiness..... it brings us lasting joy

 The difference between happiness and joy is:

Happiness is a feeling that comes out of circumstances around us that are momentary, and from circumstances over which we often have no control.  Outside influences can change our happy feelings to unhappy or depressed, or anger or bitterness all too easily.

But Joy is an attribute of God's presence within us that we can come to experience continuously once we accept God and choose to follow his wishes.  Joy comes despite circumstances. Joy transcends circumstances and fills us with the peace of knowing that we are truly loved by God.

With Joy we can see the sunrise and know God's awesome beauty. With Joy we can see the stars and moon at night and realize that even though each of us is a tiny speck on this tiny earth, God is present within us always. With Joy we can become true and lasting friends with someone, and share a friendship that will be there despite all kinds of troubles. With Joy we can find a 50th wedding anniversary to be more wonderful than the day of the wedding.  With Joy we can hold a baby and see God in her giggles and bright efforts to learn.

Yielding to God gives us Joy despite circumstances. Yielding to God gives us the power to overcome all circumstances and find lasting peace.

"Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be made complete."

Amen