Wednesday, April 30, 2008

The Joy Factor Series

 

John 16:21 “A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.”

 

Joyful Completion

 

It is joy that God wishes to give us.  It may not be a joy that comes unexplainedly.  It could possibly be the joy that comes from completing a task.  Joy sometimes comes from a sense of accomplishment.  Many times the task that is done is very challenging.   But joy comes when the task is completed.  

 

I remember the birth of our youngest child, Anna Camille.   Averette slept through much of her labor.   When she awoke it was nearly time to get the other girls off to school.   As memory serves me we did not have everything ready to go to the hospital.   We were driving down to Thomas Hospital and traffic was the usual morning congestion.   I noticed labor seemed quite intense.   My pain became intense as well because Averette’s nails were embedded in my hand and arm.   When we arrived at Thomas Hospital the doctor said, “Averette, your labor has progressed much too far to give you an epidural.”   This meant, of course, she was going to have a baby without the benefit of medication.  

 

I don’t know how many people these days have had a baby without being properly medicated.  From my observation, I would not recommend it.   Even though it was over 18 years ago her agony and pain is seared in my heart.   Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do to help her and what I tried to do seemed to irritate her.   The amazing thing was when the baby was born the joy on her face was incredible.   With the other children the births had been different.  The first child was born by Cesarean section, the 2^nd with great benefit of drugs, and this 3^rd birth was unique.   The labor looked extremely painful.   The look on my wife’s face as she held her baby for the first time was complete joy.   As Jesus spoke the words from the text, all births were born without benefit of drugs and they all experienced the same agony and ecstasy of childbirth.  

 

The Bible talks about many kinds of joy but the joy of finishing a task or completing something that is a challenge is incredible.   I remember my joy at finishing seminary or when we completed the sanctuary or the joy at being able to offer the Prodisee Center to Spanish Fort Elementary School.    Many of the things that give us joy in the end are arduous and challenging journeys with many pitfalls and snags.   If God calls us to a direction we must follow that direction and know that no matter how difficult the task the joy at serving God and participating in the creation of a better world will give us a feeling of great satisfaction, accomplishment, and joy.

 

Prayer:

Dear God, please give us the joy of a completed task.  Amen