Please do me a favor. The next time that you are in the supermarket, gas station, bank, shopping mall or church, look around you and see how many people seem to be joyful. In fact, the next time you look in the mirror, ask yourself, "Am I joyful?". A few days ago I went to our local shopping mall, sat on a bench and began watching people as they walked by to see how many might indicate some expression of joy.

For the most part, the people who walked by me looked as if they had been sucking on a lemon since birth. I am not suggesting that we should all have a banana surgically implanted in our mouth to give the appearance of a smile, but if all these people are joyful they need to let their face know about it.

In the New Testament "joy" is mentioned 361 times. Do you think that the writers of scripture are trying to convey a message?

Joy is the completion of happiness, the aim of human life and the completion of human action and existence.

Joy for the Christian is the result of charitable actions, forgiveness of sin and life under the promise of redemption and salvation. Essentially, Christian joy is sharing in the joy of Christ at the accomplishment of the works of divine salvation.

I can hear most of you saying, "Oh Glenn, give me a break! I can't pay my bills, the washing machine is broken, my car needs a brake job and my kids have become aliens from another planet. What do I have to be joyful about?"

Please believe me when I say that I know first hand how joy can seem so simple in theory but so difficult in reality. Especially during the past few months as I have watched the news and seen how much manure there is floating around this country.

Long ago, as I watched Mark McGuire hit his 62nd home run that eclipsed a major league baseball record, I found myself cheering his achievement as tears welled up in my eyes. I saw how joyful he was at that moment as he trotted around the bases high fiving and hugging everyone around him.

As I tried to hide the fact from my wife, Linda, that I was crying (Why do men so often hide their tender side ?), I realized that the sadness within me was giving way to joy. At that moment I was experiencing a "heavenly tickle" and it felt so good.

In closing let me refresh all our memories by saying that joy is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. During this year of the Holy Spirit may we all take the time to visit our spiritual produce aisle and grab as much "Holy Spirit Fruit" as we can possibly handle.

Glenn Harmon © 2002