I love to read! My mother instilled that in me at an early age by reading bedtime stories to me and my brother and by encouraging me to keep a book with me whenever I could.
I try to read a little every night before going to sleep. I’m not always successful (married), but I enjoy mysteries and adventure books at night, self-help/improvement and history books during the day (not a lot of history, sometimes it’s just not fun :-), and of course current events/informative books by conservative authors. Although I do mix in more liberal authors to stay in touch with what they’re saying.
One of my favorite authors for the past several years has been Mary Roach. She was a “science reporter” for some newspaper out there and wrote books with catchy titles about offbeat subjects that I’ve wondered about but never wanted to spend the time researching. “Gulp” was a favorite - it was about how the digestive tract works and the history of learning these things, which was a fun romp through lots of history.
Another favorite of mine has been Lee Child, the author of the Jack Reacher series of books. Jack Reacher is one of my favorite fictional characters of all time! Lee Child seems to be handing the series off to his brother, which brings a different style, but it’s a fun series of books that I’ve enjoyed.
What I’ve learned is that sharing things enhances the joy, even deepens it. But others are not always ready to receive what I’m trying to share :-)
It's challenging to relate all of this to the Bible, but here goes:
The wise men as well as every practicing Jewish person had read or heard the stories of the coming of the Messiah.
The joy they must have felt when they thought about what was coming must have been amazing! But also very different from our joy about Jesus. For us it seems like just a tired old story that needs some modern glitz to make it attractive. But I still find it a compelling story when I look past the glitz and hype.
The angels that announced Jesus' birth must have been singing from joy. They knew him already, had spent so much "time" singing and praising about him and with him that it spilled over into the sky on the night of his birth!
To me they were sharing the joy they felt about who Jesus is/was/would be.
I hope you find joy in this season as we prepare for the birth celebration.
Bonus stuff:
Pentatonix - Joy to the World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXAWz1jwCow
Bible Project video on Joy
https://youtu.be/qvOhQTuD2e0
Gulp by Mary Roach
https://www.amazon.com/Gulp-Adventures-Alimentary-Mary-Roach-ebook/dp/B00AN86JZ4/ref=sr_1_1?crid=KCXP0G0KX7KJ&keywords=gulp+mary+roach+book+kindle&qid=1670079850&sprefix=gulp+mary+roach%2Caps%2C1093&sr=8-1
