Joy

Continuing yesterday’s theme of why don’t I …?

I was flicking through the Sunday supplements and thinking well, why don’t I comment on what I read? Actual comments as in words on the screen rather than just the internal dialogue in my head.

I was reading India Knight; she was commenting on the bad effects of social media but the sentence that caught my attention was where she said that what she wants for the coming year is more joy. It struck me because it seemed slightly incongruous to be reading about joy in a secular publication. We hear plenty about joy in church but very little in everyday life.

Of course, there’s Isaac Watts’s Christmas carol, Joy to the world, the Lord is come. No doubt the first few words are still familiar to many but I wonder how much attention is paid to the following lines, Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room.

There in words written in 1719 is the answer for India and anyone else like her who is looking for more joy in 2018.

Jesus came for everyone. Joy is meant for everyone. But to benefit from what’s on offer we have to receive it, make room for it in our busy, cluttered lives.

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