Today's Serving of JOY JUICE

Have you had your Joy Juice today?  During this Christmas season, please don’t forget to add Joy Juice to your Christmas list. 

            How do we share JOY with others?  Let’s remember that JOY and happiness are two different things.  Happiness depends on our circumstances, what’s happening in our lives.  JOY…however…depends on JESUS!  We can do as Philippians 4:4 reminds us and rejoice in the Lord always, if we’ll keep Jesus as our focus this Christmas.  Sure, we have many fun activities….like parades and parties and shopping and baking.  But if we take our eyes off the real reason that we are celebrating, then we will lose our JOY.

            So what can we do to assure that we are keeping the main thing, the main thing?  I’ve got a few suggestions for you:

• Start your day with a prayer of gratitude, thanking God for the birth of His Son, Jesus.
• Read the Christmas story from your Bible.  Why not let that be your daily devotionals during this entire month?  You can find the story of our Savior's birth in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
• When you decorate you home, try to find a nativity scene that will be a visual reminder of the birth of Jesus.
• Worship faithfully in the church of your choice.  To gather with fellow Christians during any time of year is special, but at Christmas it’s extra JOYful!

These suggestions are just for starters.  I know you’ll think of other ways to invite Christ into your Christmas this year and in doing so, you['ll have LOTS and LOTS of Christmas JOY!