Joy
As we enter into week 3 of Advent, I want to remind you that we will be reaching out to the Ballentine neighborhood this Sunday evening at 5:30 to Christmas carol from house to house. We will meet at the school at 5:30 and proceed from there. Our Advent theme for this week is Joy. One our iLove Elders, Warren Williams, is our guest writer. I hope that you enjoy his Words for Wednesday!
ADVENT WEEK 3 - JOY
"Joy, twu joy"
In the late 1987 cult-classic movie The Princess Bride, the Impressive Clergyman, during a wedding "cewemony", recognizes "wuv, twu wuv". (translation: love, true love 🙂) Let's take his line about true love, and think about our recognizing and experiencing true JOY.
As a parent, I often think back and fondly remember many of our children's events that Joy and I have attended or watched. Many of those moments were actually cluttered by underlying thoughts or circumstances. For any of us, these can be musical performances, a sporting event, a dance recital, or the delivery of a speech. We see that it's easy to worry and become anxious during the event, hoping our children don’t miss a line, or fail.
Grandparents, however, have a different perspective. If I close my eyes and think back to those events, I can visualize TRUE joy. But not from my perspective, but rather from the perspective of the grandparents. Given their loving, unbridled reactions, grandparents are the ones worth observing. When they watch a grandchild, it is mostly free of the worries of them failing or messing up. Their true joy lies in the experience itself, that "bwessed moment" of simply being there and watching their grandchild.
Recently, our iLove body very thoroughly studied much of Luke 15 during our church's Revival. Luke 15:7 speaks to the true joy that is experienced in heaven upon the acceptance of Christ by one sinner. Luke 15:7 says, "I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance." (NKJV). Pure, true, God-given joy.
This Christmas, lay aside the worry and fear of failure that so easily attaches itself to life, and steals our joy. Instead, we can reminisce on special moments of watching and witnessing TRUE joy - the kind of joy we see from our grandparents.
These are your Words for Wednesday. Merry Christmas to you, as we celebrate the true joy of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, during this Advent season.
Lord bless, and God speed.
Warren A. Williams
ADVENT WEEK 3 - JOY
"Joy, twu joy"
In the late 1987 cult-classic movie The Princess Bride, the Impressive Clergyman, during a wedding "cewemony", recognizes "wuv, twu wuv". (translation: love, true love 🙂) Let's take his line about true love, and think about our recognizing and experiencing true JOY.
As a parent, I often think back and fondly remember many of our children's events that Joy and I have attended or watched. Many of those moments were actually cluttered by underlying thoughts or circumstances. For any of us, these can be musical performances, a sporting event, a dance recital, or the delivery of a speech. We see that it's easy to worry and become anxious during the event, hoping our children don’t miss a line, or fail.
Grandparents, however, have a different perspective. If I close my eyes and think back to those events, I can visualize TRUE joy. But not from my perspective, but rather from the perspective of the grandparents. Given their loving, unbridled reactions, grandparents are the ones worth observing. When they watch a grandchild, it is mostly free of the worries of them failing or messing up. Their true joy lies in the experience itself, that "bwessed moment" of simply being there and watching their grandchild.
Recently, our iLove body very thoroughly studied much of Luke 15 during our church's Revival. Luke 15:7 speaks to the true joy that is experienced in heaven upon the acceptance of Christ by one sinner. Luke 15:7 says, "I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance." (NKJV). Pure, true, God-given joy.
This Christmas, lay aside the worry and fear of failure that so easily attaches itself to life, and steals our joy. Instead, we can reminisce on special moments of watching and witnessing TRUE joy - the kind of joy we see from our grandparents.
These are your Words for Wednesday. Merry Christmas to you, as we celebrate the true joy of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, during this Advent season.
Lord bless, and God speed.
Warren A. Williams
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