Joy is the unmistakable sign of the presence of God.
--St. Dominic Savio
The one who is joyful unmistakably knows that "all is well, that all manner of things are well," in the words of Julian of Norwich. When my granddaughter was 2 and 3, she would wake up each morning and ask me to "twirl" with her. Now that she is nine, though she has given up twirling every morning, she still greets each day with resounding joy.
Joy, as peace, is the one thing we cannot give ourselves. We can discipline ourselves to diet, to exercise, to plod through the day doing what we don't really want to do, but we cannot discipline ourselves to learn "joy." It is the gift of God; it is the gift Jesus gave to the woman at the well, who ran off leaving behind her water jar.
Galations 5:22 lists joy as the fruit of the Spirit of God within us. Now no tree disciplines itself to produce fruit; it is the natural result of the tree reaching out its limbs each day to embrace the sky, the wind, and the rain. It is the result of the tree pushing its roots into the soil and drinking up the nourishment and water it finds there. The fruit comes as the tree grows strong. So it is with us. As we embrace the Spirit of God and sink deeply each day into His presence, the fruit of joy is produced in us, along with peace, goodness, kindness, long-suffering, wisdom, gentleness, and self-control.
The morning we wake up with gratitude and joy, wanting to run or twirl, despite our advancing age, we know that we have encountered the Spirit of God, and that He is living within us, producing in us His own character. If we sought nothing else in life but that, we would be rich indeed!
Sadly for many, the soil they sink their roots into feeds them only fear and sadness. All the reaching our limbs toward the light cannot overcome poisoned soil. Only transplanting ourselves to sweeter, safer soil will enable us to bear the fruits of The Spirit.
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