Joyful?

The word "joy", or words containing it (such as "joyful"), appears in the Bible 242 times.  So it must be important, right?


For seven days celebrate the Feast to the LORD your God at the place the LORD will choose. For the LORD your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.
Deuteronomy 16:15


David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brothers as singers to sing joyful songs, accompanied by musical instruments: lyres, harps and cymbals.
1 Chronicles 15:16

He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.
Job 8:21


The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
Psalm 19:8


But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful.
Pslam 68:3

So exactly what is joy?  And how do we feel it?  Honestly, I wish that I had all of the answers.  Sure, it's easy to talk about being joyful, but it's pretty hard to actually do.  As Christians we should have "the joy of the Lord" at all times.  Right?  But then the car breaks down when our bills haven't been paid, our paycheck isn't what we thought it would be, our boss is driving us crazy, our kids are failing, and so on...  Maintaining that joy can be pretty hard at times.

Maybe it would help to see exactly what joy is.  I mean, do we really know what that word means and what it feels like?  Here's a video you may or may not have seen.



That's how God wants us to be!  No worries, no thoughts, just delight in His creation.  That baby elk is having a ton of fun.  Now, I know, that animal doesn't have bills and responsibilities.  But maybe...just maybe...we can sometimes put those things away.  When we pause and concentrate on God, we can feel that Joy.