Joy

I started this morning by reading a couple of the "Joyful" Psalms.  I spent some time with Psalm 66 

¹Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;

²sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise.

³Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you.

⁴All the earth worships you; they sing praises to you, sing praises to your name.” Selah

⁵Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.

⁶He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot. There we rejoiced in him,

⁷who rules by his might forever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations— let the rebellious not exalt themselves. Selah

and Psalm 100

¹Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.

²Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing.

³Know that the Lord is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

⁴Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name.

⁵For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

I started thinking about happiness and joy.  We use these words interchangeably.  But the more I thought about it, I realized that they are different emotions, at least for me.   I feel joy at a much deeper level than happiness.  Joy fills my being up completely.  There is no room for any other thought.  I experience it in every cell of my body.   Joy is exuberant and cannot be contained.  These psalms reflect some of that exuberance for me.  I don't feel it often enough. I think young children experience it easily and often, but somehow we lose this openness as we age.  I decided that this week I want to consciously look for joy.