Joy

James 1:2-4

Here's a little exercise for you. I'm going to give you a word and I want you to list five words that come to mind. (If you're really brave, write them in the "comments" section.) Ready? Here it is:

JOY.

My 5 things:

ice-cream, my mom, yellow flowers, laughter, my nose

Hmmm... I totally did that impromptu - and am a little surprised at my answers! I have been craving ice-cream for a couple of days, so that was what first popped up. My mom is a woman of joy. Yellow flowers? I don't know - I always choose pink or white. Laughter - that makes sense. My nose? I think that has to do with how much good-smelling things delight me. Perfume, candles, laundry-soap, fresh cut grass...

Anyway, the Greeks' word association also surprised me. The Greek word James uses here ischara which means what you would think it to mean... gladness, cheerfulness, whoo-hooing, etc... but it also means this: calm delight.

A cup of tea on a cool morning. A long morning of snuggling. An extra five minutes in the shower. Oh! I love calm delights.

I'm actually having one of those moments right now. It's raining and it's cool. I have a cappuccino and I'm lounging on my bed writing. The house is clean and my work for today is done. I'm looking forward to eating chili tonight and talking to Dave and finishing an interesting book. Yes. This is joy! This is a calm delight afternoon.

But wait. James isn't talking about calm delight days. He's talking about trials. He's talking about the testing-of-my-faith!

He's talking about loneliness and fear. He's talking about me dying to myself. He's talking about having a calm delight when I'm too busy to sit down with a cup of tea. He's talking about having a calm delight when there's no one to snuggle with. He's talking about having a calm delight when I don't have a minute to myself even to take a shower - much less have five extra minutes in it!

I have to confess, today I had a breakdown. I was not having a calm-delight morning. My worries and fears and loneliness and hormones were strangling me. Dave called and I had a full-blown-pity-party. Poor guy. I had that pity-party because too often, I require my environment to provide the calm delight. I want the candles and the roses, the big bathtub and Bach. I want things to be easy, to go my way. I want to be right. I want to be strong. I want to be in-control. That's not the joy James is talking about.

When he made his list of "joy" words - he wrote some nasty words: temptation, adversity. That's a joy that has nothing to do with the circumstances of today. It's has to do with me wanting to grow in the Lord - and be His above all else. He also chose the words faith, patience, maturity, completion, and perseverance.

That sounds to me like the joy of an old couple rocking on the front porch with big glasses of iced tea... having earned their wrinkles and gray hair... yes, that sounds like joy to me.