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Joyful in Hope?


Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. (Romans 12:12-13)

         More gifts to ourselves and those around us. The first one sounds a little strange. Be joyful in hope. Can you have hope without being joyful? Can you be joyful without having hope? This one is very personal at the moment, a case of God’s timing. I scratched my eye yesterday, badly enough that I went to the emergency room this morning. I’ve never gone to the emergency room for me before. It’s such a minor thing, really, but my eye hurts and when a person is in pain, the world seems to constrict down to that pain. I’ve already sent out my prayer request – for wisdom, direction and attitude, especially attitude, every so much for attitude.
          So, joyful in hope. Hope is the belief that a positive outcome will come about no matter how bad the situation is. I know that my eye is going to heal. The doctor even said it should be better in a couple days. I’m supposed to use the medication for seven days. See? Within seven days things will be better (even if not one hundred percent.) There is every reason for hope. I even got an appointment with the ophthalmologist for this afternoon, and my insurance will cover it. But… joyfulness in hope? Um. If I had that, I wouldn’t be asking for prayers about my ‘tude. I don’t feel like singing, “Oh I’ve got joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.” I feel like singing “Grr, Grrr, Grr, Grrr,” to the beat of stamping feet. And, I’ve noticed that it’s little inconveniences like a scratched eye that bring out the worst attitudes. Maybe bit things put one in shock in a way that little things don’t.
          How does one even have joy when things are not going well. You can’t really. Hope is easy to understand, because hope needs bad circumstances in order to look forward to good ones, but joy? How does one say “Yippee” about pain and poor vision when one is trying to write books and blogs and such?
          Several years ago I led a Bible study on the fruit of the spirit, one of which is joy. One of the resources I read about joy said that joy wasn’t about bouncing around with glee. It was more a sense of contentment or ease found in knowing that someone cares for you, and that said care is and will be enough. In other words, joy involves settling down in God’s will and believing that it’s a good will.

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