Full of joy
Surely the joy of the people is withered away (Joel 1:12)
I wonder if you were clapping the NHS on Thursday evening. I had missed the memo and was alerted to the event when I heard the fireworks going off somewhere in the village. Such a simple, joyful moment. In one little close I know well the neighbours came out of their front doors and were, I believe, cheering as well as clapping. It seems that this disaster, while estranging some people, is bringing others together in ways they never thought possible.
I was intrigued by the word 'surely' in today's text. Almost as if Joel can't believe that all the misery of this great disaster could leave any joy left. Then, when I looked it up, I found that it's not in the Hebrew. One word root, B-SH (if what's left of my Hebrew is working), is repeated 3 times: dried up, dried up, dried up. Vine, pomegranate, palm, apple and joy are all dried up. The fig tree, interestingly, is withered or enfeebled (which is as much as you can do to a fig tree as they seem to thrive on hardship). Joy, then, is simply one of the fruits out of which the life has been sucked by this disaster.
It has been on my mind all week that it is terribly easy for me to write about misery. Joel is all disaster and our current times are very unsettled and gloomy. Yet somehow I wanted to write about fun. I feel sure that joy does not need to be dried up like fruit that lacks water. Look at the NHS clap for example.
My humour often turns to the ridiculous. The person who has made faces out of their toilet using two toilet rolls for eyes. The thought of all those people who have stockpiled baked beans and now find themselves forced to stay indoors for large parts of the day. The cartoon of someone paying for his coffee with sheets of loo paper pulled out of a back pocket.
We can feel a little guilty about laughing when so many are suffering such loss and pain. But I am sure we do not need to do so. Laughter is part of what keeps us healthy. Humour is key to our sense of well-being. Everyone needs a good chuckle now and again.
Joy, of course, is much deeper. For Joel the well-springs of life had dried up. Is that true for us? It is worth asking ourselves where we find refreshment. In family and friends, in exercise and rest, in purposeful work and good colleagues. What if all those dry up? The psalmist has some simple advice: Happy are you when you delight in God's words for you will be like a tree planted by streams of water, you will yield fruit in season and your leaf will not wither.
So find a well-spring in God's word today. Look up your favourite verse and learn it by heart. Sing scripture to yourself as you work, in the ancient hymns and the modern songs. Then, even if all else dries up, you will have a source of refreshment deep within, out of reach of disaster and out of which joy will come.
I wonder if you were clapping the NHS on Thursday evening. I had missed the memo and was alerted to the event when I heard the fireworks going off somewhere in the village. Such a simple, joyful moment. In one little close I know well the neighbours came out of their front doors and were, I believe, cheering as well as clapping. It seems that this disaster, while estranging some people, is bringing others together in ways they never thought possible.
I was intrigued by the word 'surely' in today's text. Almost as if Joel can't believe that all the misery of this great disaster could leave any joy left. Then, when I looked it up, I found that it's not in the Hebrew. One word root, B-SH (if what's left of my Hebrew is working), is repeated 3 times: dried up, dried up, dried up. Vine, pomegranate, palm, apple and joy are all dried up. The fig tree, interestingly, is withered or enfeebled (which is as much as you can do to a fig tree as they seem to thrive on hardship). Joy, then, is simply one of the fruits out of which the life has been sucked by this disaster.
It has been on my mind all week that it is terribly easy for me to write about misery. Joel is all disaster and our current times are very unsettled and gloomy. Yet somehow I wanted to write about fun. I feel sure that joy does not need to be dried up like fruit that lacks water. Look at the NHS clap for example.
My humour often turns to the ridiculous. The person who has made faces out of their toilet using two toilet rolls for eyes. The thought of all those people who have stockpiled baked beans and now find themselves forced to stay indoors for large parts of the day. The cartoon of someone paying for his coffee with sheets of loo paper pulled out of a back pocket.
We can feel a little guilty about laughing when so many are suffering such loss and pain. But I am sure we do not need to do so. Laughter is part of what keeps us healthy. Humour is key to our sense of well-being. Everyone needs a good chuckle now and again.
Joy, of course, is much deeper. For Joel the well-springs of life had dried up. Is that true for us? It is worth asking ourselves where we find refreshment. In family and friends, in exercise and rest, in purposeful work and good colleagues. What if all those dry up? The psalmist has some simple advice: Happy are you when you delight in God's words for you will be like a tree planted by streams of water, you will yield fruit in season and your leaf will not wither.
So find a well-spring in God's word today. Look up your favourite verse and learn it by heart. Sing scripture to yourself as you work, in the ancient hymns and the modern songs. Then, even if all else dries up, you will have a source of refreshment deep within, out of reach of disaster and out of which joy will come.
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| Sheer joy in a second hand shop |
Thank you for sharing your son's joy, the pictures made me smile on a difficult day.
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