“Why did you run off secretly and deceive me? Why didn’t you tell me, so I could send you away with joy and singing to the music of timbrels and harps? You didn’t even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters goodbye. You have done a foolish thing.”
– Genesis 31:27-28
I have been thinking about joy, compared to the lack of joy. Which do you prefer: the companionship of a person who is joyful, or a person who is full of gloom and doom? I think back on a time when I was a young soldier; three of us were sitting in a gasthaus (German tavern) having a beer or two. A couple of soldiers approached us, Bible in hand, and began to tell us we needed to change our ways, or we would go to Hell. That may have worked if it had been John the Baptist, but it did not work for us. As I think back on it, I realized that there was no joy evident in the two young soldiers, as opposed to the three of us drinking. Joy! Think of the value that Joy brings to any relationship. I did not truly feel joy until God became a part of my life. Now that I am joyful, I need to share that joy. I believe I will be more successful in making a new friend if I greet them with a joyful smile than if I approach them with the idea of saving them from sin. Just a thought: what do you think?
I pray that each day your joy shines for everyone you meet!
Bob Beck, a Creswell resident, writes on matters of faith for The Chronicle.
