People have very strong mixed feelings about Christmas music. They love it or hate it.
We usually start hearing tinsel tunes sometime in October (probably because Halloween music never really caught on). Some people love it and can’t wait to sing about decking halls and roasting chestnuts. They get all giddy when they hear Bing Crosby swoon about his White Christmas dreams. Other people hate it, they want a TRUE silent night, as in EVERYBODY JUST SHUT UP!!! They have a violent reaction when they hear Mariah Carey singing “I don’t want alot for Christmas…”
I have a confession to make, I like Christmas music. In fact, I’m listening to the Brian Setzer Orchestra rock around the Christmas tree EVEN as I write this. I wish I had some egg nog!
My favorite Christmas song of all time is Joy to the World, I love it! Maybe because I REALLY like JOY. I think that JOY is my superpower.
You probably only hear this song once a year around this time, so let me reacquaint you with some of the lyrics…
“Joy to the World, the Lord has come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.
Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.”
We are invited to join heaven and nature in the biggest sing-along EVER. We are singing about unspeakably amazing things, JOY…wonder…glory.
It probably shouldn’t be an once a year deal!
I think that is why we are told to REPEAT the sounding JOY.
But, do you repeat the unspeakable?
How do we make Joy to the World more than a Christmas song?
Because, Heaven knows that the world could seriously use some JOY right now!!
JOY is a singable thing.
How can JOY become the unending song of our heart?
How can it be the soundtrack of our life? A sweet song you never get tired of.
Repeat the sounding joy…
JOY can’t be manufactured or bought, it can only be chosen.
Choose JOY.
Then hit repeat, punch the perpetual rewind button.
Choose JOY, then choose it again and again and again.
It becomes a song that gets stuck in your brain for all the right reasons, because it makes you smile and dance.
JOY is not a feeling or happy little buzz, it’s a deep knowing that life may not always be fun or easy, but life is always a gift so I will treat it as such.
It’s an inner peace that everything is gonna be alright and that causes you to rejoice regardless of outward circumstances.
Happiness and JOY are two completely different things.
Happiness is born of circumstance.
JOY is born of hope.
JOY is not about what is happening TO you, it’s about what happened IN you.
JOY is never out of reach, even in the darkest times.
JOY is based on the unsinkable fact that God loves you with a RIDICULOUS love and you can trust Him.
It’s the kind of thing that can make you sing…
Joy to the world
All the boys and girls
Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea
Joy to you and me
Do you hear what I hear?
It’s JOY!
It’s EXACTLY what we need for times like this!
Play it again!!
Repeat the sounding joy.
carbonated joy 