Joy To The World

Joy cannot be purchased. It cannot be borrowed from your best friend. It does not hide, but rather begs to be found. Once you have experienced joy, you will say to yourself, Oh yes! More please! If you stay in that hidden place long enough, the place that is yours alone, you will learn two things: that joy is the truest expression of love, and that without joy your life is hollow, doleful, even depressed. I think joy is one of God's greatest gifts. We are meant to cultivate joy, to deeply appreciate the benefits received when we live a life in search of joy. When we reach for those things that bring us happiness, the result is an outpouring of peace and love to those around us. This past week, I met my twin grandchildren, cradling them in protective arms. Tiny bundles of joy. Not being prepared for the peace that swathed my heart, the innocence of newborn boys, the miracle of life itself, my lips made an Oh-shaped expression. Swaddled up in blankets, eyes not quite ready for the world, and tiny hands that reached for each other soon after birth. I was thinking today that it must begin in the womb, the cultivation of joy, for why else would these babies seek each other, if not for the truest expression of love?