Recipe for Joy

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

-Psalm 27

            In my long life I have had the wealth of knowing and seeing the recipe for joy...men and women who knew the true joy of salvation. 

            Most had lived very plain lives, with none of the attractiveness of the "rich & famous" .  Most had no distinctive gifts and had not been remembered for Christian activity (did not serve as an officer in the church, unable to be a big giver, never led the congregation in prayer, sang a solo or were in a church choir or taught a Sunday School class) BUT, rain or shine, they were always there; an encouragement to the Pastor.  They were there at a time of need in the community, knowing the value of food to the family of the sick and bereaved.  These are the "saints", married and unmarried, who not only brought up their own children in the knowledge of the Lord, but were an inspiration to others' children.  It never can be known until the Judgment Day, when the books shall be opened, what blessings these humble lives have left at their closing in the world. Its silent, unconscious influence poured out through all the long years into other lives, making them nobler, happier, holier, sweeter.

            I think first of Miss Swanee Gay, this writer's  first Sunday School teacher; not a very attractive woman, never married, probably never had a boyfriend; always lived with her married sister's family, helping to raise her many nephews and nieces.  She had very little income, getting paid by the hour to work for people in the community...farm work, house work, etc.  But she had enough money to keep a supply of blue and pink silk cloth.  Every baby born in the community received a beautiful embroidered baby cap from Miss Swanee.  It made no difference the skin color of the baby; the education, wealth or other qualifications of the parents.  Boys were blue and girls were pink and they all wore her cap to church.  In her 85  years of life, parents could always point to her and tell their children and grandchildren that she had made their first baby cap, taught them in Sunday School.

            No matter how far you have traveled from the community in which you were reared; no matter your education, attainments of any type, just as you never forget loving, giving parents, memories of the "home place", your first church house, your first school house, will always bring sweet memories.  Speaking before congregations, at the end of my presentation, I would always take from my pocket a small service bell.  Many in the audience knew the times of the Great Depression, when in many churches, Sunday school classes were separated from one another by curtains.  There was always a sense of closeness with those of your own age - your own teacher.  Toward the end of the Sunday school session, someone would ring the small bell, showing that it was time for Sunday school to be over.  The sound of that bell when rung, brought memories and tears to many in the audience.  This writer traveled every continent, but always remembered  more than any other place on earth, his home community.

            My own son: doctorates, academic works, much traveled; still tells me that his most beautiful memories  come from farm life with my parents, his grandparents...the farm home where I was reared with my working-sweating father...my comforting mother, cooking over a wood stove.  Pity the individual who puts so much pride in sophistication, but has never enjoyed the humbleness of simplicity...a recipe for joy.  When you have the joy of being transformed through grace by faith in salvation afforded God through His son, Jesus Christ, you are careful not to use God or Jesus' name in vain.  You are not ashamed of the gospel. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." - Romans1:16

            In the insanity (the rat race) of this present world,  your life is complicated by the world, flesh, devil.   This recipe for joy is knowing that you are redeemed.

            In 1967, the British government came out with a 30 page pamphlet entitled 'Protect & Survive'.  This pamphlet instructed on how to survive a nuclear attack.  Nuclear survival, hurricanes, tornadoes, vehicle crashes or the myriad of other acts that could take your life.  Knowing that you have the assurance of salvation in your heart is the worlds only recipe for joy.