Five Minute Friday- Joy is........

I've hemmed and hawed about what to write for this week's prompt. Hats off to our dear friend, Andrew who really got down to the nitty gritty. I had to reread what he wrote a few times as joy is not something that comes easy for me. Like most, I have not mastered it and yet my life is far better than many in our world today. To be honest, I don't know how many of us have truly found the secret to joy as our culture is so obsessed with the frivolous entertainment of silly videos on FB or youtube. They make us laugh, but they don't sustain us through those tough times in life that we all have to face sooner or later. They don't answer the deeper questions of why and how. I tried to summarize a few thoughts of details in different situations that can bring us joy.

My pastor explained to me that the Greek word joy means "calm delight, but is directed towards a person. It means we can rule over our struggles with joy because of Christ! The Hebrew mindset is that joy is tied to a relationship with God. The main word is Simcha and is a shared joy. The Jewish mindset is one of community." I am thankful to be part of this online community Five Minute Friday each week!

So all of this has been ruminating and led to this in five:

Joy is knowing we can stop wasting

Everything has value

Apple cores, ends of celery stalks, eggs shells 

Paper towels and worms can all go together

Organic materials

Heat from the sun, cooking up something great

Our disappointments, times burned and punctured

Adding something vital

Understanding compassion and sacredness of life

Moments when the sun pops up each morning

Knowing there is an end to every storm

Sooner or later we will laugh again

Finding the smallest details to be thankful for

Waking up from a serious complication

Finding out six months later the doctor on call,

was the best you could get because God took care of it

You couldn't pick that one, but He did

STOP

To see how others define joy and find it check out www.katemotaung.com