Joy in the Bottle!
Bottles from the Springs! 12 of them on the 22nd of September, year of our Lord, 2019. First the passage from the Gospel of John-
John 15:9-11 New International Version (NIV) 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
So Ryan McBride spoke about Celebration as a discipline, but what did he mean? A Good thing he went on to tell a story and explain... A story of himself and instructions to his son and how he found a life lesson in how busy he had been and then how that business was a part of his way of life. He discovered that taking time to celebrate the gifts of God to us outside our business was God's reminder of what Joy was! One thing he said that helped him was to appreciate God's gifts, the gift of the beauty of the sunrise through the trees, when he had to clean up the diarrhea of a little puppy discovered in the morning. If we can discover those gifts it helps us to remain, as John says, in the love of Christ and in the love of the Father. We need that Joy because Happiness is temporary, a thing of the moment. But Joy is what comes from celebrating the eternal, what lasts forever. So now is the time to start! Begin now to celebrate Eternal, everlasting things of the Spirit by practicing Gratitude and Worship for the glimpses God gives us of the everlasting treasures God hides in the present. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.- 1 Cor. 13. We know that some day we won't need Faith, we won't need Hope, but Love, well, that goes on forever because John tells us that God is...Love! Having Joy in the midst of our struggle trains our inner thinker, our inner desirer, our inner decider (Mind, Heart, and Will) in other words our Soul! Discipline cooperates with the Life of Christ, which is what is born from above in us when we put our trust in Jesus, our Savior and King. Obedience to Christ John15:10 results in Joy! It begins in the small things and grows. Give God Time and Space and more Time and Space daily in our lives and watch the Joy grow!