Gioia

“Joy is the feeling of grinning inside.” - Melba Colgrove

...."My brothers, consider it a great joy when trials of many kinds come upon you....." (James 1:2)  JOY. Who doesn't want to experience JOY, but having JOY about trials?  Authors from all walks of life tell us that our response to trials should be bliss, delight, and pleasure. This sounds like an impossible task to fulfill, but with patience and practice,.......lots of patience and practice.... the JOY will be experienced. Still not convinced....neither am I which is why I am writing about the topic....with hopes of convincing myself of this timeless truth. I desire to believe in, and live the JOY no matter the circumstance for trials are inevitable.

Kahlil Gibran once stated that those who never look on sorrow will never see joy. This can be interpreted as sorrow and challenging events being the catalysts to a blissful existence. A trial is a God chosen opportunity for one to grow in character and wisdom. As one lives through pain and frustration, we should gladly accept the trial for one will reap the benefits. Dr. Karl Payne, a Christian apologist, explains that an effective way to demonstrate the reality of one's faith to skeptical friends is choosing to remain content in the face of adversity. By cheerfully accepting one's surrounding circumstances, a Christian lives out her or his faith. Bright happy eyes gazing on sorrow reflect a deeper feeling of joy in one's heart. This reflection brightens the hopes of others telling them that they too can survive sorrowful and painful trials.  

JOY is a Fruit of the Spirit. A fruit is a transmission structure of life.  Fruits transport the life force....the food source for seeds to develop into a living organism.  JOY is also then a vehicle to transport and transmit the Holy Spirit's life force to others in our environment. I see JOY as a way for the Holy Spirit to flow through us.  By not being joyful, one blocks the flow....like Hoover dam blocks the flow of water. A Christian faith opens one's heart to many gifts from God, and JOY is one of those things which God freely gives. Accepting His JOY along with sorrow will only increase the many levels of blissfulness in one's life. This acceptance of joy gives a foundation for the patience and practice during striving times and so the flow of continues.  

St. Philip Neri, who lived in Rome during the 16th century, was known as a humorist who overflowed with cheerfulness.  His was delighted about being a Child of God and celebrated daily.  St. Philip believed and preached that Christians need to cultivate a worthy joyful attitude for living the twists and turns of the road to heaven. He wrote that cheerfulness strengthens the heart, and makes us persevere, so a servant of God should always be in good spirits. One's face should be a billboard of JOY. If more people informed the world of their joy with smiling faces, then maybe it would be easier to be convinced of the JOY in the middle of strife.

May I continue to strive in my pain and sorrow with joy.

St. Francis De Sales, pray for my patience, perseverance.

St. Theresa the little Flower, pray for my flow of joy in small ways.
Blessed Mother Teresa, pray for love to reach my heart, so joy will manifest. Amen.

- little petunia