Joy: Day 6

Joy to the world! The Lord is come: let earth receive her king;

Let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing.

With “Joy to the world” in our hearts and minds, I invite you to join me in looking each of these twelve days for instances of the joy that runs through all of creation, especially through experiencing the beauty and wonder of God’s world.

 We were on the road today, driving west from clouds and cold in Omaha into sunnier skies and warmer temperatures as we neared home. There were many images of joy: the initial glimpse of distant brightness, the increasing brightness and finally real sunshine as we moved toward the light, hawks gliding in the sky, the Platte River in various stages of freezing and thawing.

When I got home, though, I went outside to experiment with a new camera lens and looked at the small details of several familiar things – rocks, a bit of moss, and this sprig of lavender, beautiful in its details and in its smell even in this dormant stage. Seeing familiar things in a new way is a joy. Perennials and shrubs become old friends when they have been in a garden a few years, and it’s a special joy to really look at them and see them in a new way.

Joy to the world! The Savior reigns; let us our songs employ, while fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains, repeat the sounding joy.