Joy Is Your Strength

In my personal philosophy, I have discovered that selfish joy and shared joy are equally important, because joy is protein for God; whether it is an essential macronutrient found in me or found in someone because of me, it still belongs to God in the end. I have said it before, but I want to work this out: Joy is what love feels like.

Those big, shared smiles I have mentioned before? That is joy. If a smile upon my face can cause a smile on another face, we have each experienced a microdose of joy. If you have ignored me up to now, I would have you at least get this: Joy is the most important fruit there is.

1.      Love

2.      Joy

3.      Peace

4.      Longsuffering

5.      Gentleness

6.      Goodness

7.      Faith

8.      Meekness

9.      Temperance

 Love, as a fruit, is not the same as the essential love of God. When I am referring to upper-case Love, I am referring to God alone. But when Love is worked out between us, it is the taking of that environment and making it available to others.

And when we do this, others grow.

Joy is how that feels, to you and the other. What we need, as human beings, is the fundamental environment in which to grow, and that is Love. The more of that environment you procure, the more you can give, and the more you give, the more you possess. Joy is the result. Joy is how it feels to experience Love. In order, we will see peace next. Why does peace follow joy? Because when selfishness and selflessness become equal priorities in our life story, it brings about perfect peace. We are not so determined to "get that goody," as Alan Watts puts it. It is more blessed to give than to receive.

These nine fruits are not dogma. This has not a thing to do with religion. This is something to keep in mind as you develop your character. But hidden in this list are the greatest secrets we might ever discover.

Love is first, and it is the uncaused cause; love is God.

Joy is next, because joy is what love feels like, and it expands naturally.

From contagious smiles to passionate kisses, joy requires two. That is why it is second on the list. That is why you and I were created. Many of our greatest physicists are quick to say that "consciousness is fundamental." I do not really disagree, if you are referring to the infinite expressions of God. But there is something about God, with or without consciousness; it is pure Love. Not a feeling, but the environment out of which everything else arises. Joy is what grows and expands. Not Love. Love is unchanged and eternal. God is Love. That is not to say that God feels love. That is not to say that God is lovely. That is not to say that God gives love. It is simpler than that: God is Love. Whatever else occurs, occurs in this space.

Love cannot expand. Love cannot grow. Love cannot decay. Love cannot die. Love is eternal.

Joy is not the same.

Joy can expand. Joy can grow. Joy can decay. Joy can die. Once felt by Love, joy is planted in a self-sustaining garden, exploding with eternal joy; turning the universe into happiness. But unlike Love, joy has a beginning. It arose out of the first opposite: knowing and not knowing. No matter what the first green leaf was, whenever it became the first sign of plant life, pushing up through the soil, it did not know it was God. Meanwhile, as God observed it, God knew it was God, and God said it was good. The plant and its environment were one, with only God knowing so. To the plant, it was as if there were two. This gave the plant a unique ability that God did not have until God was two: the plant could derive joy from an environment wherein it found itself having an experience. With knowingness extracted, the plant felt love. Love, for the first "time," felt joy, but only as the unknowing plant.

This is consciousness. It is always two. Sorrow had to arise at the same time.

 

1.      Joy can only be felt as a contrast to sorrow.

2.      Peace can only be felt as a contrast to disease.

3.      Longsuffering can only be felt in contrast to impatience.

4.      Gentleness can only be felt in contrast to roughness.

5.      Goodness can only be felt in contrast to evilness.

6.      Faith can only be felt in contrast to doubt.

7.      Meekness can only be felt in contrast to power.

8.      Temperance can only be felt in contrast to excess.

 

Love is the garden where all of these qualities and their fruits grow. This is where you come in: you can produce these qualities or their opposites. We are all allowed to grow either way; but remember that what does not yield joy is not going to make it to the eternal table of Love, where you and all of your good qualities exist forever.

Paul said something profoundly interesting in one of his many letters. He said, "...my joy is the joy of you all" (II Corinthians 2:3 KJV).In another, older verse, Nehemiah stood up in front of an assembly where everyone was said to be gathered as one:

 

He said, "Go your way, eat well and drink. Give to those who do not have. Don't have sorrow, for joy is of God and it is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10 MCV).

 

This is my message. Joy is of God, and joy is your strength.

There are many science fiction stories, books, tales, and movies where one protagonist after another will discover and then begin to use their superpower. When one character discovers that he can grow massive muscles and defeat an army, he will eventually get that opportunity, and a story develops. It is almost always interesting.

The reason this is so incredibly interesting is because we all wonder if we have a dormant superpower. I hope this essay helps to reveal to you that you do have a superpower; it is the gathering and giving of joy. Joy is how Love feels, and it is the growth that matters.