Erin Campbell Naman, church member since 2009, member of Children'due south Council, fellow member of Lay Leadership Quango

Psalm 96 (NIV)
 "Sing to the Lord a new vocal; sing to the Lord, all the world.  Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation 24-hour interval after day.  Declare his celebrity among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.  For corking is the Lord and nearly worthy of praise; he is to exist feared in a higher place all gods.  For all the gods of the nations are idols, simply the Lord made the heavens.  Splendor and majesty are earlier him; forcefulness and glory are in his sanctuary.  Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.  Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his proper noun; bring an offering and come up into his courts. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the globe.  Say amid the nations, "The Lord reigns." The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will approximate the peoples with equity.  Allow the heavens rejoice, let the globe be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it.  Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.  Let all cosmos rejoice earlier the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth.  He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Reflection:
Years ago, when I commencement joined the Tuesday Mom'southward Bible Study, nosotros read Kay Warren's volume "Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn't Plenty."  It was the kickoff time I had really thought about the difference betwixt joy and happiness. Until then I had ever strived for happiness, but I came to understand that happiness isn't enough, that happiness is fleeting.  What God wants for united states of america is joy! I like definitions and Kay defines joy this way—"Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be all right, and the determined choice to praise God in all things." For years I accept had that definition saved in my phone.

Nosotros also talked virtually who in our lives embodied joy. Joy is easy to talk about, but is it easy to live out in this broken world? I immediately, then and now, thought of my late paternal grandfather. My grandfather was one of those men who lived life with a twinkle in his middle. He loved life and he loved people. His very being exuded joy. He wasn't blithesome because God had granted him a life total of ease and blessings; he was blithesome in spite of hardships he had faced. He chose joy.

My granddaddy kept that twinkle in his eye in spite of what this broken world threw at him, including a rather public disappointment that would accept turned some other man biting and angry.  My favorite quote about him comes from a friend who was asked if he was always scared of flying with my grandfather. Large Mike had flown in Earth War II and continued to fly recreationally until the day my grandmother told him to stop. His friend's response was, no, he wasn't afraid considering no one loved life more than Mike. He loved life, with all its messiness and with all its blessings. He loved the life God had given him. He chose joy.

It is that kind of joyful love for life that God has intended for us. God wants united states to joyfully sing, to praise his name, to rejoice. You simply need a passing noesis of the Sometime Testament and the history of David and the Israelites to know that their lives hadn't been all sunshine and roses, yet David exalts them to sing to the Lord and praise his name. Though the word joy is only used once in Psalm 96 (in the NIV translation), this is a song all nearly joy and living joyfully. It is about making that determined option to praise God in all things.

In December we fill our homes with strains of Joy to the World , non Happiness to the World.  God sent united states of america joy through his son. May we call up this flavor, and in all seasons, that God is in control of all the details, that ultimately it will all be made right in his time, and may we retrieve to sing his praises. May we choose joy.

Prayer:
God, I want to alive joyfully.  I want to sing your praises in all things and through all circumstances.  I want to remember, Lord, that yous are ever in control.  I want to cull joy today and tomorrow, the kind of joy I tin only get by walking with you.  Thanks for beingness a loving Male parent who wants and yearns for his children to know something deeper than happiness. For wanting the states not to settle for the coexisting, only for wanting us to abide in deep joy.  Today and always may I choose to walk joyfully through this life with you ever-present at my side.