Dec 15 - Joy for All Seasons

Joy For All Seasons

Thursday, December 15, 2022

by: Barbara Alsup

Scripture: Luke 2:8-20

Key Verse: Luke 2:8-12
That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

Joy is an emotion that we all experience but in many different ways.  It is not something we can create - it has to come from within.  The stimuli that brings joy to you may not be what brings joy to me.  If God is an important part of our lives, we will experience joy in the simplest things!

We can experience joy in the mundane tasks we all do everyday.  Joy in a task well-done adds a new dimension to our everyday lives.  It could be as simple as the smell of bread baking, a clean house, taking care of our families, or doing our very best on our job we have chosen.

Real joy comes when we meet with family or friends.  These relationships can be strengthened through God's love and grace.

Real joy is going to worship and meeting our friends, hearing the choir, hearing the message, and feeling God's presence.

In This Holy Season

Lord, in this holy season of prayer and song and laughter, we praise you for the great wonders you have sent us: for shining star and angel's song, for infant's cry in lowly manger. We praise you for the Word made flesh in a little Child. We behold his glory, and are bathed in its radiance.

Be with us as we sing the ironies of Christmas, the incomprehensible comprehended, the poetry made hard fact, the helpless Babe who cracks the world asunder. We kneel before you shepherds, innkeepers, wise men. Help us to rise bigger than we are. Amen.

- Author Unknown