J O Y

"I bring you good news of great joy"

Yeah right.

No, really.

Not only did the angels tell the shepherds they had tidings of great joy (because a Saviour had been born in Bethlehem), I can also tell you things that are joyful.  No I can tell you how to be joyful.

And I am sorry if it seems like I am boasting...but well here are the words of a song I learned when I was a little girl:

Jesus and Others and You - What a wonderful way to spell JOY

Jesus and Others and You - In the heart of each girl and each boy

J is for Jesus, let Him have first place

O is for Others you meet face to face

Y is for you in whatever you do

So put yourself last and spell JOY.

The third candle of Advent is JOY

Even when it seems you don't have anything to be joyful about.

Like the first Christmas that my children and I were learning to be a single parent family.

And (both good and bad) we were plopped right down in the middle of friends and family where there were both a mom and a dad and where (or so it seemed to us) there was lots more Santa Claus.

I was probably way too honest with my children.  They really believed that there was going to be NO Santa Claus.  At least that's what Renee and Tray portrayed to the Sunday school teachers.

I don't know which one of them was the actual voice during prayer request time.
I do know that somehow - early in the afternoon of Christmas Eve, 1982,  two bicycles appeared on the side porch and on Christmas morning in addition to the gifts from this Santa Claus, Renee and Tray both had new bikes (though used)..

All these years later that memory still makes me smile.  And remembering that time comforts me even when I am sad today.  No need to list the things I am sad about - just know 2014 has included circumstances that left me searching for - JOY

"Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name for His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life;
Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning" (Psalm 30:4-6)


Which being said makes these words more about HOPE.