Advent with Pressed Olives: Day 18

* JOY *

I am sure almost everyone is finished with their Christmas shopping by now. There may be a few of you out there that haven’t even started yet. What’s interesting is whether you are an early shopper or a late shopper, when you are out buying gifts, there is a level of excitement for most. The act of buying gifts for those you care about can bring a wave of joy to your day. I think the joy that we have is way deeper than a gift that we give or receive.

“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

‭‭John‬ ‭15‬:‭11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

As I was thinking deeper about joy, I realized that to have joy is spiritual. It’s a gift from the Lord and a promise. Like any gift, we have a choice to accept it or not. If I am being honest, sometimes I go through seasons when it’s really hard to choose joy. When I get out of practice of choosing joy it makes it tough to bounce back. What’s amazing is that God's word is true and when I open myself up to the supernatural joy that the Lord gives, I feel like nothing can get in the way of that. I believe as followers of Jesus, we are being filled with the spirit of joy as we continue our walk with him.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭15‬:‭13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

This week I had a desire to make cake pops for the first time. It was fun making all the cake balls and letting the kids eat the cake batter. I was filled with Joy as I reminisced on moments with my mom. We also used to lick the cake bowl clean. When it was time to dip the cake in chocolate, the joy that I had began to slowly dissolve. I burnt the chocolate twice and had to run to the store to get more! Thankfully, I got it down on the third try and got a rhythm of dipping while my fiancé handled the sprinkles.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,”

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭22‬ ‭ESV‬‬

I’m so thankful that the Lord gives us access to the gift of Joy. When I can practice it in the little things like making cake pops, it will make it easier when something way bigger tries to get in the way.