What's on your Joy list?

27 Why did you run off secretly and deceive me? Why didn’t you tell me,so I could send you away with joy and singing to the music of timbrels and harps? Genesis 31:27

What's on your Joy list?  The first time I heard this term was on our FM Christian radio station on my drive time to work. I've heard  of bucket list as some things we want to accomplish before we die, but not 'joy list'.

I  never liked the word 'bucket list'- the term that someone will use for  things they want to accomplish before they die.  It's downright depressing, and who knows whether we will even have the physical strength or the cognition to do those things on our 'bucket list"?

When God made this world, he made it for all of us to enjoy. From our every waking moment he presents the beauty of the world everywhere we look. 

 But, the burdens of this life wear on us. We carry the weight on our shoulders forgetting that God designed us to allow Him through the gift of our Savior Jesus to carry the burden. Yet, as hard working as we are we insist on carrying our own burden even as that little stone we dragged around  when we were younger now becomes a huge albatross of one as we get older. 

Those boulders prevent us from seeing the joy in life.

We were meant to give God our burdens and learn to live life joyously, no matter what happens in our life.

The moment Jesus was raised from the dead, the distance from God was removed. We no longer need  to travel to the 'wailing wall' to feel his closeness. The gift of his Son was freely given to us who freely accept the gift of his son Jesus Christ. 

.That 'gift' holds the secret to our joy, our reason for living, and helps us to remove the blinders of our burdens and see God's creation from a new perspective.

Unlike a 'bucket list', a Joy list is something all of us can do.  A Joy list helps us remind ourselves that life is more than being a slave to work.  Many employers say that the vast majority of vacation time goes unused every year by employee's who feel the burden of life. 

' A joy list is something all of us ought to have, not just those facing the end of their earthly existence.

 A joy list consists of the places you want to see or experience in this life or things you want to do.  

 It's a list that helps us keep straight the things that truly matter in this life....things like going up north and hiking the trails on the north shore, camping, visiting places you've never been to, or simply walking around one of the area's many Metropolitan lakes.  Some of you  might have things like taking a helicopter ride or riding in a hot air balloon. or traveling somewhere so you can play in the ocean. Or it can be something simple like being part of a good church, singing in the choir, going out with friends to a movie, dinner.  You get the picture.

 Start your list and keep adding to it with each passing year, and before you know it, you will be living life joyously.