Joy to the world Week 4

Joy to the World. This was the subject of the sermon I listened to this morning in church. This is also one of my favorite Christmas songs.
Today was different though. When Toby (our pastor) asked what "Joy" meant to me, my first thought was "my children". Not happiness, not glee. My children. And I'll tell you why. To me, joy means everything encompassing my life. It isn't just those fleeting moments where I feel elated because something is going just right. It's that feeling that I have, always, that I am here, living, breathing, partaking in my children's life. Joy isn't always about happiness. We've had ups and downs lately with this economy and aren't always on top, I get mad at my kids for the dumbest reasons and feel bad about it later. Sometimes my daughter comes into me and she is crying because she is hurt. I don't feel "happiness" when she is hurting. But I do feel joy. Why? Because she is coming to me with her hurts, she is leaning on me, she is trusting me and loving me and knowing that I will make her feel better. When I am figuring out our bills and am stressed, I feel joy because I am thankful to be where we are and not homeless, not sick, not wanting for anything dire to my existance.
So even when we are out of the Christmas season I will continue to sing "Joy to the World" because to me this song now has a new meaning. It means that I don't have to have it all to feel Joy. I am Joy.