count it all joy

Blowing the steam off the surface of my fresh coffee, I sit down for a few moments to enjoy something.  Life.
    
As simple or as complicated as one chooses to make it, life is a gift.  And what does one do when a beautiful gift is given to them?  They rejoice! They exalt, exclaim, gawk, tear up, giggle, blush, thank and thank again--to be thought of, to the sweet extent of having that thought materialized and presented to them, is truly a precious thing. A gift is physical proof of love.  And love, more than anything, causes one to feel content, comfortable, special.  Love MAKES the soul want to rejoice. 

This is for the days we want to have joy.

Let it out!  It is there; it's tickling the heart with happiness and lining the soul with smiles.  Show it!  For as Mother Teresa once said, "Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls." An image comes to mind--shy flowers timidly revealing their beauty to the vast heavens. Green vines flowing across pebbles that hardly show up amidst the overpowering grass and clover. And small, determined feet that thump, thump, thump through this little garden as though it was their own personal jungle. Chubby Little hands clutch an old wooden net, crowned at the end with a lovely trap of twine. So many things to catch, nothing else to occupy the mind but catching, keeping, treasuring.

What occupies my mind when joy is bubbling up within me?  Is it the thought of "catching souls"?  Or is it the selfish plans of a selfish person to make the joy last as long as it selfishly can?

In Nehemiah 12 a day is described in which the people of Israel are rejoicing. They rejoice because "God has given them great joy (verse 43)."  But what is it they do that perfects their rejoicing?  How do they turn their joy into something that glorifies God? They offer "great sacrifices" as their thanks and then they go on rejoicing in such a way that it can "be heard far away!" So we should do likewise. Respond first in gratitude, second in generosity.  Share it.  Give your joy wings that it might spread through hearts as though it were contagious.  Go light up a room, lift a fallen countenance, care for someone else--fight to hold onto your joy by striving to give it to others.  And your joy will grow.  And you will shine into darkened souls. And you will glorify God.