Think back carefully over your life and analyze within yourself whether you are a person who has found that most elusive of all treasures -- pure, rapturous joy. Not just happiness, mind you, but actual, complete contentment with your life and its circumstances. In this industrialized, computerized, everything-ized society, life goes by in such a whirl that if we don’t make time for it, the realization of "joy" can be most elusive.

The way I see it, happiness ebbs and flows, depending on the various events in our lives, but joy is a continual state of mind, a way of life. So many of us have no real joy in our lives, and as a result we are easily buffeted about by any ill fortune that comes our way. The woman who has decided to allow God to be her joy, however, can go through any trial, any tribulation and be sure that her well-spring -- that "Fount of Every Blessing" -- will be an ever-present source of underlying joy. To be sure, times of trouble do not make for joyous occasions, but if that connection with God is strong, the underlying current of joy, that continual state of a joyous mind-set, will sustain the troubled breast.

Do we take time to nurture our relationships with God so that He can be our source of joy? Psalm 16:11 is one of my most favourite texts in the Bible. It states, "Thou wilt show me the path of life; in Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." That is so beautiful. We feel good when we are fellowshipping with our loved ones, but the Psalmist is saying that being in God’s presence not only feels good, but is actual "fullness of joy". It doesn’t come naturally, though. We are not predisposed to want to be in God’s company. It’s something we actually have to practice doing. The same way we cultivate a friendship with an earthly friend is the same way we have to do it with God. That involves taking the time to get to know Him through His Word, through nature, through prayer. And as we get to know Him better, the realization of joy becomes a reality. He becomes our joy, and the joy grows deeper as we continue to cultivate our friendship with Him.

That is when we can really sing "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee, Lord of Glory, God of Love" and mean it with all our heart.