“I woke up this morning with a frown on my face. / I looked for a smile, looked all over the place. / I looked high. I looked low. I looked to and fro. / But I could not find it. / Where’d my giggle go?”- Max Lucado (children’s book)
“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full.”- John 15:11 (ESV)
In Chapter 7 (“When You Can’t Find Joy”) of Tame Your Thoughts, Max Lucado observes that joy seems like such a fragile thing. Like the winds of a storm, here today, lost tomorrow. Furthermore, Max notes, one study reports that only 33 percent of Americans describe themselves as happy.
Still, we ‘press on’ in search of happiness. Most significantly, marketing companies play to this search. As a result, Max notes television commercials promise only one product: joy. Hence, every ad portrays the image of a joy-filled person.
Therefore, Max encourages:
“It might surprise you to know that joy is a big topic in the Bible. Simply put, God wants his children to be joy-filled. Just like a father loves to see his baby laugh with glee, God longs for us to experience a deep-seated, deeply rooted joy.
This joy is not a shallow, easily extinguished mood. Nor is it a naivete about the challenges of life. Jesus knew storms and struggles. . . . But he never lost his joy. He desires to put this joy, his joy, into your heart.”
Above all, Max stresses, dismiss the assumption that joy is a character trait assigned at birth. Because this false idea emerges from the etymology of the word happy: the root hap means luck.
Thus, we must keep in mind that our brains constantly change in response to experience. Consequently, we can develop brighter outlooks through the practice of thought management tools. Joy is a skill.
Today’s question: Do you, like the character in Max’s children’s book, ask: “Where’d my giggle go?” Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Left adrift on the Atlantic?”