Real Joy?

The sixth gift is Joy “May it may keep your heart open and filled with light”

At this time of the year everything seems so full; shopping bags as you rush to get presents, stomachs as we enjoy another holiday feast, schedules as you try to squeeze in another holiday event, homes as all of your family and friends pack in to visit. As I relax to let some of this holiday food digest, I wonder is that what’s meant by the joy of the holidays?

At our house the Christmas holiday seems to be a competition to see who can get the most. My kids fight over the biggest piece of pie, down to who has the most gifts under the tree. My friends work themselves into debtors’ prison trying to buy everyone what they want for Christmas. Thousands are ready to go and fight the crowds for the best deal on black Friday (the name literally is the opposite of light). You, surely, can’t forget the battle for the perfect family picture that mom wages every year against food stains, silly faces, and messy hair. Where is the holiday joy?

I know some of you have been waiting for it, some of you have been anticipating exactly how I would weave it in. Well, here it is the blatant truth of the holidays; it’s not what we say, what we get, how we dress, or where we live that creates joy. It is the Holy Spirit, not spirits, that guide us to experiencing real joy. The truth is that 2000 years ago God, the one and only one, came down to dwell with us. His name is Emmanuel for that very reason. He gave the gift that is still the best gift to be given or received. Through a relationship with him even though you may be beaten, then chained, and imprisoned his joy will still spring up in you, just ask Paul (the apostle).

So, in this “stuff it in”, “get it now”, world we live in- accept no alternatives to the real joy of knowing Christ.