While
visiting our son and his family in Montgomery, Alabama, two years ago, my
husband and I took a wonderful side trip to Monroeville. Here, Harper Lee grew up and the town, its
court house, and its people provided the basis for Macomb and its characters in
To Kill a Mockingbird, published in
1960. More than 40 million copies have
been sold, portraying the simplicity of life in this small town seen through
the eyes of a young girl, centering on her father defending a black man falsely
accused of rape in a very compelling story.
After
walking around the town, we went into the courtroom, so like the one in the
movie. Eventually, I made my way to the gift shop—of course. I bought some notecards and a little, open
wooden box. On its grayish front is a
mason jar with the words “Be full of joy” across its front. I think it grabbed my attention because I
knew these words were ones I needed to take to heart.
Difficult health
issues and chronic pain have made being joyful challenging at times. Yes, each of our children have had their own
healthy children; we have become grandparents, what can and should be one of life’s most
wonderful blessings and greatest joys. Then
both families lived out of town, and day-to-day life just seemed hard even
though we knew God was with us, helping and hearing our prayers. God’s word also encouraged us—now, too-- to
expect and hope for physical healing, just as those who came to Jesus in Bible
times.
Examining just a part
of what the Bible says about “joy” proved to be quite interesting. The emotion of joy appears frequently in the
Psalms and in Isaiah. In addition, Jesus
taught about keeping God’s commandments and remaining in God’s love, saying, “These
things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may
be full” (John 15:11). The joy of Jesus
transcends our human emotional responses to life's experiences. Scripturally, joy must be rooted in loving
God, seeking to be filled and refilled with the living presence of His Holy Spirit. Paul explained that joy is a “fruit of the
Holy Spirit” (Gal. 5:22) along with other needed traits.
Hebrews 12 seems
to summarize how joy worked throughout Jesus’s time on earth. Seeing life as a race of endurance,
Christians are encouraged to look to Jesus, “the author and finisher of our
faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:1,2). Clearly, difficult, very painful experiences,
emotional and physical, are described.
However, He kept His eyes on His Father and the joyful demonstration of
God’s love and power (the resurrection, overcoming Satan’s evil plans) as the
prize that could be part of our lives here and eternally, also.
May the Holy
Spirit fill us, too, and help us to “Be full of Joy” as we look to Jesus.
