Pure Joy

I've been dipping into the book of James this morning - small book, tucked away amongst the longer letters, but full of all kinds of gems.
I got to wondering... what might pure joy look like? A newborn baby? Winning the lottery? A bride on her wedding day? Your team scoring the winning goal? A large bowl of ice-cream? (yum)
Thing is, each of these things is fleeting - granted, some for longer than others - bound up in earthly time and events.

People often confuse joy with happiness, but I believe it is so much more. It can't be manufactured. We can do all kinds of stuff to make ourselves happy, but joy is something that has to come from the inside. Maybe it is an attitude rather than a feeling?

I wonder what the Christians belonging to the twelve tribes thought when they began to read James' letter:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds...

What is joyful about facing tough times? The bloke is off his rocker (or whatever the first century idiom was).

...because you know that the testing of your faith develops perserverance.

Well, okay... perserverance is good, but I'm still not happy about the trials part!

Perserverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

I wonder if the readers recognised the gift they'd been given? Could they see the bigger picture? Do WE see the bigger picture?

God, my Father, Jesus, my brother and the Holy Spirit, my friend, there with me in all the ups and downs of life, helping me to keep on keeping on so that I might be complete... whole... as God intended.

Now THAT is something to be joyful about.

May we live in the joy that comes from God alone :)