Joy

Listen to this quote (sorry if it is a bit paraphrased) :

"Joy is central in the Christian's life, while sorrow is peripheral. The fundamental questions of life have been answered, while only the peripheral ones have not.

For the unbeliever, sorrow is central while joy is peripheral, because the fundamental questions of life for the skeptic are still unanswered; only the peripheral ones for the skeptic may be answered.

Joy, which is the small publicity of the pagan, is the gigantic secret of the Christian."

G.K. Chesterton

When I heard this quote, I was caught by surprise. I love it. It makes me want to shout. Isn't this so true?! Even in the most sorrowful of circumstances on the outside, are we not filled with joy on the inside? If we are not, then it is only because we don't know our Lord well enough. For when we know Him, even if we cry ourselves to sleep in pain and sorrow, we can still rise at midnight and give thanks to Him, and joy still comes in the morning. Perhaps you would say that I am young and have not really known sorrow, but I am not too young to have known joy. And in the end, joy overcomes sorrow, for truly death has lost its sting.....and is swallowed up in victory.