JOY

After reading the text of the online obituary for a 66-year-old woman I'd never met, I watched the video tribute created from photos provided by her family. I noticed how her face radiated joy in each of the photos, even in those I assumed were taken during her two-and-a-half-year battle with cancer. Whether at the beach or other vacation spot or at home or attending the birth of a grandchild or interacting with her six grandchildren…, she seemed to radiate joy and love for others and for life itself. That made me wish I had had the pleasure of knowing her.

Along about the time I read her obituary, my daily Bible readings brought me to several passages about joy. For example, Galatians 5:22 says that joy is produced by the Holy Spirit within those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ. Joy, along with eight other “fruit” (love, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, fidelity (faithfulness), tolerance, and self-control), will be as evident in the life of a believer as apples on a tree.

Reflecting on that prompted me to ask myself these questions, which you, Dear Reader, may want to ask yourself:

• As others look at my life, what “fruit” (evidence, proof) is there that the Holy Spirit of Christ lives within me?
• Is His “fruit” so evident that even those who don’t know me personally can see it and sense His presence?
• Can they/Do they see there is a distinct (and desirable!) difference in my life than in unbelievers whose lives are controlled by their “lower nature,” which leads them to “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (Galatians 5: 20-21)?

I had fun coloring this card a friend gave me.