Wednesday's Word

JOY - that's what we discussed at the lunch table today. I set out this Summer to study the Fruit of the Spirit with the kids. It was almost perfect, nine of them and approx 11 weeks of Summer. So take one away for VBS (who needs that much spiritual training in one week?!) Ha! and we should've been good. Well, good intentions and all of that. If you know the order of the fruit of the spirit, you realize we're only on the second one and there are only 3.5 weeks left for our Summer. What can I say other than, remember that piece last week about being overwhelmed? Well, if you don't, read it again. It will explain a lot! :)

Anyway, we're talking about joy. I had bought 3 different Bible studies to help me teach this to the kids. Everyone's definition of joy was different. Will's included getting the newest Star Wars figure for his birthday, and that was after we had discussed the difference between joy and happiness. This is the difference - Happiness is temporary and dependent on the circumstances of your life. Joy is eternal and independent of the circumstances of your life, in other words, dependent only on the Lord. I think this is kind of a difficult thing for kids to understand. Goodness, it's hard for me to understand! One of the questions I asked was whether it's always fitting to praise God. They said yes right away and then I asked them why. My sweet Lizzie said, "because He is holy!" Wise William said, "because he's a great God!" Ah, out of the mouths of babes. Then we talked about how to remain joyful even when we're having a bad day. We talked about singing, dancing, praying, and making a gratitude list to remind us of all that He has done in our lives.

The study also briefly mentioned how sometimes Christians are seen as very serious and sometimes even gloomy because there's a tendency to focus on the sacrifice Christ made & the seriousness of eternal life, etc. While all of that is true, I don't want to be seen that way! So I really liked this passage from the study: Psalm 33:1-3 "Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy." (emphases mine). So the kids and I came up with a "buzz word" for when someone isn't being joyful to remind us of this lesson: "Twist & Shout!" We'll see how it goes. . .

So here's a perfect example of one of my children NOT displaying JOY! I believe this was taken when Mommy had said NO to having dessert, so he latched on to Mommy #2. Do you see the look of betrayal in his eyes?! :)