Hey Guys!! To put your mind in a bright perspective today, I would like to share a mind-rummaging message. To start, I want to ask you a simple question: What is pure joy to you?
During this Christmas season, I think it is especially important to think about what pure joy means. I know you have experienced it before, and I want to bring you back into that precious moment. But, before I go into detail, think and ponder this question for a minute and on a piece of paper, write down all the things that bring you pure joy.
Recently, I asked a few friends of mine to share what pure joy means to them. They immediately wrote me back with a heavenly sparkle in their words. Here is what two teenage girls wrote:
"Joy to me is happiness but almost on a bigger level. What brings me joy is my family, friends, and the gospel."
"One thing that brings me joy... It is knowing that no matter what, God is always watching over me. To me joy is unexplainable happiness that I feel inside, mostly when I do good (and beautiful) acts of service and just being with my family."
Well, what brings me joy? I find and feel joy when I am with my family and am amidst the treasures and precious blessings that are in my life. My talents, nature, my moral peers, and many more things bring me joy. Joy is simply a seed to me, planted and rooted in my heart, unable to wither and fade away. Jesus Christ, His word, and His gospel bring me joy and that is what makes it so special! Joy comes from Him!
If you don't know me quite well, you don't know how much I LOVE to serve. For years and years I have been very deep in service. I post sticky-notes for my siblings daily, make letters for others daily, write kind emails daily, give complements to people daily, etc. That is probably why Christmas time is my favorite! I take Light the World to heart and write out my own calendar and own assignments to serve each and every day for the entire month of December. If you haven't figured it out yet, I am obsessed with service!
Service brings me joy and that is why I love doing it. Jesus Christ, all throughout his life, calmed troubles seas, healed the lame, gave sight to the blind, went about raising the dead, loving others, preaching truths, and being WONDERFUL. Joy radiates from Christ, just like a candle in the midst of a dark, ghastly room. When we are enveloped in good, pure, and wholesome actions, we are possessing and reaching the power of God. We reach His brilliant light and we have the ability share it with others! HE IS PURE JOY!! That is probably why I feel such a power and joy when I walk out of seminary class, finish scripture study, and exit the temple. Joy is a power and it's from the Lord's heart, to mine.
Now, have you figured out what brings you pure joy? If so, capture those moments in your thoughts and scribble them down on a blank paper. With that paper, seal it in your desk, journal, keepsake box, or whatever you have, and, as the weeks go by, add more brilliant memories of PURE JOY to your keepsake folder. When you are filled with the power of joy continually, you will have a better perspective and will no longer feel lowly or despaired. Access the power of JOY, even when it seems almost impossible and you will receive strength through Him, the Wonderful.
Always,
Makenzie
"Joy is powerful. Focusing on joy brings God's power into our lives."
Russell M. Nelson
I like a lot how you talk about what joy is to you and your friends. And your so right. HE is joy!