What is it that brings you joy?

We use the word a lot, but it can mean a variety of things… I was joyful when my football team won… I was joyful that I got the results I needed… I was joyful when my favourite tv series was back on… I was joyful when I had a couple of weeks off school. BUT is that any different to using the word happiness? If it is just happiness, a simple emotion, then why do we consider it important at advent, or even Christmas?

As we enter our final few days of the term, we consider this concept of joy.

Within Christian teaching joy is so much more than happiness. Joy is one of the gifts of the spirit, something that we receive but also that we can share. Throughout the nativity story we see joy, Mary was filled with it, the angels sang of it, the shepherds rejoiced and the wise men searched for it. Is it something that only comes at Christmas though?

No… it starts there but it is available throughout everyday. We can look at the world through a lens of joy, and we can share joy with others. But we need to be like Mary, the shepherds and the wise men, willing to take the necessary steps to find it in the first place. Our thought for the week says

Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God

May this Christmas time be a time that you are able to find joy, and may that joy be available to you throughout the year.