“Take Joy home,
And make a place in thy great heart for her,
And give her time to grow, and cherish her!
Then will she come and often sing to thee
When thou art working in the furrows! ay,
Or weeding in the sacred hours of dawn.
It is a comely fashion to be glad—
Joy is the grace we say to God.”
The ideal life is one of joy. The face ought to be shining, — shining even in darkness. People say this is a sad world. Yes, for those who have eyes only for shadows. What we see is the imaging on the life around us of the colors of our own inner life. He who has the bird in his eyes sees the bird in the bush. He who has songs in his heart hears songs wherever he goes. This is a sad world for the sad man. Darkness within finds only darkness without. But if one carries a lantern when he goes out at night, one finds light wherever he goes. If one’s face shines with an inner joy, one finds joy even in the deep night of sorrow.
Christ said a great deal about desiring joy in his disciples. He put it both in sermon and in prayer. He said he had spoken to them certain things in order that they might have his joy in them. It is clear that joy was his ideal for Christian life.
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