The Harvest of Joy

Verses: Psalms 126: 1 - 6

Song inspired by the chapter:  Song has been uploaded from YouTube.com and is not my original.

My thoughts about the verses:

We need to think about the reward we will receive in glory.  Heaven is full of laughter.  Those who are in Heaven have no tears or sorrows.   We have one guarantee and that is that Heaven will be a place of rest and worship.

It is hard when you look around the world to imagine a place with no sorrow.  We see wars and brutality.  We see sickness and death.  We witness betrayal and defeat.  Yet, we are guaranteed one thing Heaven is our reward.  Joy is our gift.

We have seen so many bad things in the last few weeks around the world.  People are dying because of the color of their skin.  People are being persecuted because of who they love.  We have seen people punished because of their religious views.   We need to remember that this is what the news portrays yet there is much good.

I have taken it upon myself to find videos to combat the hate and violence.  I have watched videos of people randomly helping people that they didn’t know.  One of my favorite was this short video of this man that decided to give a homeless man a thousand dollars.  Instead of just handing it to him he told him he didn’t have any money and offered him his lottery ticket.  They went in the store and even though it was technically losing ticket they had staged it so that it would be a winner.  The man started crying and the first thing he wanted to do was to give part of it to the man that gave him the ticket.

Think about this a second how hard it would be to be out on the street.  You are depending on the kindness of strangers to help you just getting by.  All of a sudden you have a thousand dollars.  What would you do?  Would you want to give part of it away? 

See we need to sow the seeds that change people lives.  We need to step out of our own worries and problems and see what others are experiencing.  It isn’t about giving a handout instead it is a hand up.  A helping hand that plants a seed of hope in someone’s life.   Your life will be changed when you give to others.  It isn’t about getting things but being there for others.

We are here at Christmas time.  A time when we worry about what we are going to get.  A time we stress over just the perfect gifts to get our friends and family members.  Yet, do we take the time in this hustle and bustle to enjoy what we have.  We need to stop for a second and listen to the laughter of a child who has been touched by our gift of love.  We need to stop and enjoy the smile of someone’s face that we just shared Jesus with. 

We have a great time this season to plant the right seeds.  We can plant the seeds of joy and laughter.  We can plant the seeds of hope and strength.  We can be Jesus to someone today.  I cannot think of any better gift to give anyone.  The gift of loving someone and helping them find their Savior.

Prayer:

We praise you God for the joy in our life.  We thank you for the answered prayers.  We praise you for your hope and salvation.  We honor you for you are worthy to be praised.  Help us to focus on the right seeds to plant.  Help us to take time to spend with you in love and praise.  Help us be a reflection of you in someone’s life today.  In the great Giver of Joy we pray.  Amen

Questions:

Are you ready to show someone love today?  Are you ready to give your life over to planting the seeds of hope and salvation?  Are you ready to experience true joy and laughter?