Devoid of Joy | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Devoid of Joy | Previous Challenge Entry
By c clemons
08/02/07
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Try as I might, I could not come up with a story tonight. When I first saw the topic, I thought “no problem”. I can write about a million things on “sad”. Easier said than done. Then I thought, “use your imagination”. I could just fabricate a character and story line, but that did not work either. I tried to remember if I had been sad anytime in my life and of course I have. I had teenage angst like every teen, but when you go thorough that time of your life you usually look back and say “what was wrong with me or how silly I was for thinking that problem was so serious”

According to Webster’s Dictionary, Sad - affected with or expressive of grief; downcast; gloomy, characterize by or associated with sorrow, melancholy. The definition for Sadness reads, state of, quality or fact of being sad. My translation, sad is “devoid of joy.”

I experienced sadness when my father died but I was not devoid of joy. I knew where my father’s spirit had gone, so yes I was sadden that my father, my beloved papa left this earth but I also experience the joy of knowing his salvation was irrevocable.

I am so glad the Heavenly Father gave us a range of emotions, being made in his image he gave us what he experiences, happy, sad, anger, grief, joy, pain, pleasure, disappointment. All of them, and we being his children have the same attributes. Emotions must be good because they came from God. They should all be experienced at some time in our lives so that we can find out just what we are made of. Sometimes problems occur when one emotion or state of being might end up defining us and we get stuck.

I do not think anyone can have any one emotion twenty-four seven, but for the believer, there should always be the underlying “joy” to everything. You might have to think on it for a minute but it is there. It can be difficult at times and that is one reason we should always have an encouraging word for one another. If there is no one around become like David when he said,“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance,”* in others words he had to encourage himself.

I am sure I will have many more opportunities to experience sadness and/or disappointments but I will never be devoid of my joy. As the old saying goes, “this joy I have the world didn’t give it to me and the world can’t take it away.”

*KJV Psalm 42:5

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