11.10.23

My friends Jake and Nicki have a sixteen-month-old daughter named Noah. I recently learned that Noah LOVES the new cartoon Grinch movie. Noah’s vocabulary is limited, but she has figured out how to request her favorite holiday flick. The other night she gave her parents the “Groosh” request (her best attempt at the tricky Grinch word), and they played the movie they describe as “having paid for itself already and it’s not even Thanksgiving.”

As I was sitting on the couch next to Noah watching the movie, I discovered it’s more entertaining to watch Noah watch the movie than it is to watch the movie itself. Her face would absolutely light up every time that small-hearted, furry green guy would pop on the screen. Noah was radiating joy. It didn’t matter what additional action was going on in the room, she would not take her eyes off that screen. You could yell her name and she wouldn’t even hear it. She was perfectly content because the Grinch was on!

She smiled and laughed the entire movie. So did I.

I think Jesus wants us to experience him like Noah does when she watches the Grinch. When we fix our eyes on Jesus, he gives us a joy which can carry us through hard days, failures, and the unexpected. The circumstances of our lives – what’s going on in the room around us – cannot get a lasting grip on us, because we’re rooted in a love and a joy greater than anything our days may bring.

Joy is not happiness, it’s not momentary. No matter how many times we get knocked down, we’re able to pop back up because our joy isn’t found in what we do, but found in what Jesus has already done for us. We know the way the movie ends and live joyfully knowing our story ends well… just like we don’t sweat Christmas being stolen, because we know that Grinch heart grew three sizes and Christmas came just the same.

I want to be someone who radiates joy. I want people to watch me live the way I watched Noah. Then I can point them to the screen and show them Jesus – the greatest source of joy this world has ever known.