Fruits of the Spirit | Joy

Joy makes me smile. Sort of like when someone surprises me, or I surprise them. And like me, many people relate joy to happiness and fun, which can be part of the package. But joy can be easily confused with happiness.  

Joy is gladness that is not based on circumstances, good health, financial success or having a lot of friends. True and everlasting joy can only be found through our relationship with God.  And it’s complete through the love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When you have that, delighting in God, you reflect it; and people around you want some of what you have.

I can remember as a young child going to Vacation Bible School with my friends and every summer there was this one song we always sang. I bet you remember it too. “I’ve got that joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.” I can’t help but smile by the time I’ve sung that whole song with others. Joy is the kind of fruit that demonstrates to others the fruit of a good life.  Mother Teresa once said that “Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls…we can do no great things, only small things with great love.” So, joy is contagious; it is not found in isolation but in relationships with God and with others. 

My dear friend Reverend Pam Avery told me that we have access to all of the fruits when the Spirit is at work in us.  The key is we must allow the Spirit to work in us.  I believe her term for that was “sanctifying grace.” He will make us holy as we allow him to work in us. There are many things we can’t do on our own.  But when we allow the Spirit to help us, things change. Trust me. I’ve experienced that change more than once in my life and the joy that comes with it. That kind of true joy found deep in our hearts is a supernatural act of God. The tricky part is that circumstances in life can sneak up on us and steal our joy if we allow that.

For example, snakes terrify me! You’d think a country girl wouldn’t be such a chicken.  But a few years ago, when I lived on the farm, I was planting flowers near the back porch.  It was hot outside, so I was barefooted. As sweat ran down my face my hair kept falling in my eyes. Wanting a cold sip of water, I took a short break and I stepped backwards to reach for my glass. As I did, my foot landed on what I thought was the hose pipe. Until it moved! Suddenly I realized I was standing on a long black snake.  Harmless, perhaps, but not to my panicked heart! This girl screamed for her life, hopping up and down while almost jumping out of her dirty faded Levi’s! The trespasser slithered away, likely as scared as I was, and life has never been the same for either one of us. Even now the slightest mention of the word “snake” triggers immediate fear across my body.

So now fast forward to a few weeks ago. I love working in my yard here on the gulf coast. It’s my happy place where I find joy.  Just me, God, some good music and good old fashion sweat and dirt. Life was good. Until just the other day when a “baby” water moccasin immediately stole my joy as I realized he had taken up residence in my back yard.  I was terrified for me, for Alyssa Lee and even for our beloved canine, Captain Jack Sparrow!  So I knew I needed to KILL him. I found myself tip toeing across the backyard like Elmer Fudd, “vewy vewy quietly, going on a wabbit hunt!” Unfortunately, the evil rascal got away.  And then he was spotted a few days later by my pest control guy. That day the back yard became “off limits” to me and everyone in our house. Yet, after a week or two had passed, with no fun in our own yard, I realized I had two choices. I could hide inside, never go into my backyard again and allow fear to steal my joy.  But Nehemiah 8:10 tells me that the joy of the Lord is my strength.

My other choice was to “pull up my bootstraps,” and go outside to take back my joy-and my back yard.  I decided that with my shovel ready and my “judge” loaded and ready to fire, I could defend my home and family and step back outside again. I also remembered that perseverance is a Godly virtue and “Daddy didn’t raise no quitter.” I also decided to talk to a few good men, friends God has put in my life, to decide how to best handle the situation. And with their help I refused to allow old sneaky snake to steal my joy.   By the way, I’m thankful for my yard service guys.  Tim Currie, a retired law enforcement officer who now runs a lawn service business called Lawn Patrol, told me that with all the rain, the water rises in the bayou and the snakes, especially the water moccasins will come to drier land.  So that doesn’t mean they are taking over my backyard.  I just need to be aware. (And no, to answer your question, little sneaky snake is still out there somewhere!) 

My point is that life’s circumstances can easily steal our joy. They can catch us unaware. And facing our triggers takes courage, time and often requires advice from people we trust. God has always put people in my life for those times.  And hindsight, when I think about how he has restored my life over and over again, I can still find joy, even in the sad and scary moments.

So here is something to think about. Whatever triggers you also reveals a part of you that needs to heal. We all have those triggers.  Snakes are just one of mine.  Loss of loved ones are an even bigger one.  Trust me, I know that healing from some things in life doesn’t happen overnight.  And usually facing the big things like grief and loss don’t need to be done alone.  God will always put people in our lives to help us along the way.  And he will give us strength and courage for the journey. It’s up to us to pull up those bootstraps when we are ready to and then be brave enough to handle the task at hand. One step at a time.

Finally, one of my greatest fears my whole life was losing my father. He was my hero, the man in my life that was always there.  I’ll save his journey for another day, but I do want to make an important point here. The day he went to Heaven, God reassured me that he was “home.” I cried tears of grief but also tears of joy. For him.  Because I knew he had a relationship with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And because of my relationship with the Lord, the peace and joy I experienced that day shifted my life ever so slightly. In a way I’ll always remember. Yes, we can live our lives in fear of what might happen or refuse to deal with things that have already happened.  Or we can surround ourselves with people who fill our buckets, who are positive influences on us and who love us and remind us of God’s love, come rain or shine. These are the people God gives us to help protect our joy.  So that when those challenging times do come (because we know the snakes are still out there), we will have what we need to face them and not allow them to steal our joy.

Deuteronomy 4:29 reassures us that “if you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.” So, remember that no matter what challenges we face in life, we can face them knowing we are not alone. And we can reclaim that “joy, joy, joy joy…down in our hearts.”