A Pumpkin, A Princess or JOY?

I bought a shirt for $4.99 from Target.

It's black with a little, sequined, orange pumpkin on the front.

It looks just like this one except the tee is black.

It caused quite a stir in our little apartment last night.

Just before bedtime, I laid out the girls' clothes for school today. I figured if I'm going to spend money on seasonal clothing, they should wear them more than once. So out came the special Halloween tees.

The jumping. The squealing. The happiness. The shouts of "Yippee! Yippee! Yippee!" and "I'm wearing my pumpkin shirt tomorrow! I'm wearing my pumpkin shirt tomorrow!" filled our temporary home.

All over a $5 tee.

I said to The Daddy as we lay in our bed last night, "All that over a tee-shirt. I can't wait until she sees Cinderella's castle in person next week!"

YES, folks. We're going to Disney's Magic Kingdom. When in Central Florida, do as Central Floridians do. You've twisted my arm.

Thinking about the temporary happiness the tee-shirt caused and the temporary happiness at the sight of Cinderella's castle draws my mind to a verse The Daddy and I studied last week and the same verse from the sermon at church on Sunday. (Yes, we made our maiden voyage to a CHURCH THAT IS NOT OUR OWN. More on that another day.)

The verse is in Paul's thank you letter to the people of Philippi:

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:3-11)

Joy is a state of being.

Your joy cannot be robbed; it is yours.

Joy is the knowledge that despite our circumstances, all is right with God.

Joy is not happiness.

Joy is not pumpkins or princesses.

Joy is not conditional.

Joy is from God.