Joyful

We know the word Joy.  Most of us can give some sort of definition of it, yet many go days on end without feeling it.  Its something we decide to feel, not something that demands to have an event to bring it on.  We can feel joy for the simple act of breathing, of waking up in the morning.   Loved ones can bring us joy, not for some action or lack of negative action, but again, simply for the fact that they are alive.   I feel joyful nearly every single day of my life,  deep inside of me there is a profound feeling of quiet joy for being able to feel life happening.  For being able to see, hear, touch, smell, and feel love and further than that, to know that God is there, in control.  Ever seeing, ever knowing, ever loving me, despite my faults and the draw we all have to the very things that do not serve us well.  On the worst days of my life, I have still felt joy.  Joy in memories, joy in knowing its not always going to be difficult.   I understand that my life is extraordinary in as much as not a day has gone by in my 57 years of life, that I have not felt loved and cared for.  I went from living at home under the love and protection of my parents, to living with my new husband, under his love and protection.   I recently saw on television where a prominent psychologist was saying that young people need to get out of their parents home and on their own before getting married.  He spoke as if it was a sign of weakness for a person to stay at home until they were married.  It made me wonder if in all the generations past, where that is exactly what the vast majority of the population did, the very founders of this nation, if they would be considered "losers" now for staying at home until they married.    I am not saying its wrong to move out on your own, but I am also saying, I think we shouldn't be thinking everyone MUST get their own apartment before they get married.  Surely my mother, grandmother, uncles, aunts, grandfather, etc were not loser's because they stayed home until they married and set up their own homes.  The Mennonite and Amish young men and women are not loser's because they have never had a bachelor or bachelorette apartment or even lived in a college dorm.   
Well, it seems I have strayed off the path of writing about joy and went on a little journey of how modern thinking is not my way of thinking.  Last night on television,  the subject was about staying a virgin, and the expert there was concerned that staying a virgin beyond 25-30 for the sake of being pure for marriage was,  a bit ridiculous.  They would be loosing out on something so very natural and would not be skilled when they did get married.   I do not agree,  Once again, proof, that I am old fashioned and born a century too late.  
Back to the subject of Joy, seek it, experience it, grow close to that feeling and cherish it.  


Psalm 65:⁸ The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders, where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.


Psalm 94:19 When anxiety was great within me,  your consolation brought me joy.


Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.