POT of JOY - Recipe Ingredients, Part 1

Happy day to you … Are you loving these hot August nights? Well grab your coffee and come on in away from the heat and distractions of the world and let’s go take a look at the ingredients we have so far in this pot of joy!
Since this is turning out to be a looooooooooong, series, I thought it would be good to double-check the ingredients so we don’t miss anything in this recipe for joy. :) The crazy thing is I didn’t even realize there was/is a recipe for it! Whew, no wonder I’m not a cook, or a chef!
So the first thing we discovered is we’ve got to clean out the bowl, if you will, where this joy resides. So this takes us to the first thing: His joy is in us if we’ve invited Him to clean out and reside in our heart (the bowl)! So no matter what is going on around us or concerning us, it is available! Sure, our hearts sometimes feel as though someone has the mixer on inside us and is stirring up so much stuff that we can’t find the joy, but it IS in there, and through that mixing and refining, aka, trials and difficult circumstances, joy is the strongest sweetest flavor in the bowl! It’s just like His Word promises in Psalm 30:5 weeping may endure through the night, but joy comes in the morning!
Another truth about joy is that it is usually a representation of the abstract feeling or concept, and that abstract feeling inside of us moves us away from us into action! So joy moves us away from ourselves! In other words, this is the beginning of the fruit of joy, if you will the first glimpse of it within us is when it takes us outside of us and splashes on others through our actions. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be a paying-it-forward or kind-deed kind of action; it could be as simple as an attitude adjustment, a smile that doesn’t disappear when tough circumstances threaten to erase it, or even just a dance in your step, a light and merry heart.
All does not have to be right with the world in order for you to be all right and experience joy! It’s when our world seems to be turning upside down and shaken up that joy is in the making, and like some recipes, it just may take longer to cook!
Join me tomorrow as we continue to look at the ingredients in our recipe of joy.
Joyfully,

Evinda