July 7--What about Joy?

The Lord first started speaking to me about joy about 9 months ago.  His first installment came in the form of a dream.  A dream that made me very curious.  In my dream, I was laughing and floating on the ceiling of the room I was in....just like Uncle Albert in the movie "Mary Poppins."  At first, no one else was there with me, but after awhile, Rick came into the room, watched me laughing while floating above his head, then asked me who the actor was who played Uncle Albert in the movie.  We discussed it for awhile and his conclusion was that it was Fred Gwynne.  It was at that point that I woke up.  My first thoughts were, "It wasn't Fred Gwynne--what was that guy's name?"  (It was Ed Wynn--almost right!)  My second thought almost immediately was "...for the joy set before him endured the cross...." I knew that this was a dream I needed to pay attention to.

The most intriguing thing to me right away was that that was the verse that popped into my head.  It isn't too unusual for me to wake up with a scripture or a praise song or hymn in my mind.  But the juxtaposition of that verse and my laughing hysterically was sort of incongruous.  I meditated on that for the rest of the day--even for the rest of the week.  What must the joy in heaven, the joy of being in the Father's presence, the joy of redeeming us be like?  How hilarious and riotous is the joy of heaven if enduring the cross is worth it?  This isn't the heavenly joy I had grown up with.  The explanations I had heard in sermons in my youth were that God's joy that He shares with us isn't necessarily happiness.  It's a knowing of deep joy while we're otherwise miserable. 

Later that day, I took a drive up to Massachusetts to take in the foliage and to enjoy some new sights.  I came across a wooden sign in a gift shop that had the word "Laugh" on it.  Still meditating on my dream and the joy of heaven, I bought the sign.  It hangs in my kitchen over a door.  It's a reminder to me.  Joy is supposed to include laughter.  Laughter is a part of heaven. 

That was the beginning of my journey into finding out more of what Father God is trying to show me about joy.  I'll share more with you about this journey in later posts. 

BTW, Rick was coming home from an overseas trip the day after I had the dream.  I shared the dream with him when he got home and he told me this little bit of story:  As he was flying into JFK airport in New York that day, he was remembering an episode of the old TV show, "Car 54, Where Are You?"  The two policemen who were the main characters in that comedy were on their way to Idlewild Airport--the old name of JFK.  He was musing about that episode and trying to remember the name of one of the actors who played the cop....it was Fred Gwynne. 

          "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything
     that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perserverance the race marked out
     for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the Joy set before
     him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God.  Consider him who
     endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you do not grow weary and lose heart."
                                                                                                         Hebrews 12:1-3