Joy

by Jacque Beckman

From the time our children were toddlers, we have made an annual summer pilgrimage to a zoo. There is something amazing about animals and kids: the awe, the intrigue, the excitement. Have you ever watched a child feed a giraffe? That huge tongue comes out and wraps itself around the leaves. I will never forget my oldest son’s laughter, bright eyes, and little shrieks! The tradition continued as his little brother and sister came along, three and ten years later, respectively. When my middle son was in junior high, his amusement was a spider monkey that stuck its arm out of its cage, wanting to be fed. For our daughter, it was the lemurs with magnificent black and white color and ringed tails. One of our last “zoo trips” while the kids were in school was to an aquarium, where all three got to scuba dive in a giant tank with all kinds of fish and marine animals. What a delight to experience such abundant joy.

Can you imagine what a treat it was for our Heavenly Father to create the animals of the land, fish of the sea, and birds of the air? Imagine considering the intricacies of each species: spots on a jaguar, fleece on a sheep, feathers on a flamingo, blowhole on a whale. And then He “saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:25). Imagine considering the expanse of the Atlantic, the magnificence of Mt. Kilimanjaro, the beauty of the Tropics. Then, imagine the delight in His creation of Adam and his helper Eve, which He created in His own image (Genesis 1:27, 2:18) – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And then He said, “It is very good” (Genesis 1:31). Can you imagine the sheer joy?

At many of those zoo trips, we experienced the love between mother and child: the mother giraffe standing proudly alongside her newborn calf, the mother elephant caressing her little one with her trunk, the mother gorilla cradling her tiny baby in her arms. Giving birth to a child is an incredible experience. When you hold your baby in your arms for the first time and look upon them, your heart swells. I would imagine that when God looked down upon Adam and breathed life into his nostrils, His heart, too, was filled (Genesis 2:7). As I gazed upon each of my children’s faces, tears overcame me, and my soul felt such incredible and indescribable love. 

There is a similar feeling when you welcome daughters-in-law into the family – my husband and I have two. I felt this again just five years ago when we walked into a maternity room and saw our twin grandchildren – boys – for the first time, and again when our granddaughters and another grandson were born. (We now delight in six grandchildren!) In between the grands, we also became foster parents to an amazing teenage boy. All our kids either have families of their own or are out of the house in college. While they no longer abide with us in the same way that they used to, they will always remain part of us and that gives us “empty nesters” boundless joy.

Just as we want our own children to know they always have a place to call home, God wants His children to abide in Him. He provided one way for that: by giving us His only begotten son, Jesus. Through believing in the resurrected Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we can rest assured that we have the joyful hope that when we die, we will join Him in the clouds and go to the place He is preparing for us in Heaven. While we wait for that day, He gives us the gift of His grace. He continually demonstrates His unconditional love, as He sits at the right hand of the Father and advocates for us. Through our belief in Jesus, we can enjoy the fruit of Spirit, “love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).

Jesus wants us to feel the joy of the Holy Spirit. Before He ascended into Heaven, He told His disciples that it would be better for them if He were not here: “I will leave you with a Helper.” That Helper is the Holy Spirit. In the book of Romans, Paul writes to the church at Rome, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Romans 15:13). Just as Paul stated, my hope for my children and grandchildren, long after my earthly time has ended, is that they will continue abounding in God’s truth – and, of course, making those annual zoo trips – as well as experiencing the peace and joy that comes only through a relationship with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. I wish the same for you.