HIDDEN JOY A gifted public speaker was asked to recall his most difficult speaking assignment. He said, "That's easy. It was an address I gave to the National Conference of Undertakers. The topic they gave…
Sermon Illustrations
JOY COMPARED TO HAPPINESS Joy is that which encompasses and transcends both happiness and sadness. Once endowed with joy, a person is not likely to lose it and in fact it grows with awareness of…
A HYMN OF JOY AND THANKSGIVING During the Thirty Years' War (1620 to 1648) the little town of Eilenburg in Saxony suffered severely. It was sacked by Austrians and Swedes. The influx of refugees brought…
REALISTIC HAPPINESS Who could speak more realistically about the illusion of a yuppie value system than Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who suffered deprivation of all that money can buy? In "The Prison Chronicle" he says, as few…
ELUSIVE HAPPINESS Happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you. But if you turn your attention to other things, it comes and softly sits on your shoulder.…
NO REGRET IN JOY There is only one thing about which I shall have no regrets when my life ends. I have savored to the full all the small, daily joys. The bright sunshine on…
C. S. LEWIS ON JOY Joy is never in our power and pleasure is. I doubt whether anyone who has tasted joy would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the…
TRUE JOY This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap;…
D R. GEORGE BURNS If you were to go around asking people what would make them happier, you'd get answers like a new car, a bigger house, a raise in pay, winning a lottery, a…
FINDING LOST JOY Many years ago, a little boy was given a priceless possession: his deceased grandfather's gold pocket watch. How he treasured it! But one day, while playing at his father's ice plant, he…
GOOD DAYS An older member of our parish taught me a beautiful lesson one day when I casually wished him a good day. He remarked, "They're all good days. It's what we put in them…
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN Benjamin Franklin, with his sagacity and wit, was a man who thoroughly enjoyed trimming hecklers down to size. During the early days of the American Republic, he spoke many times on that great…
EQUIPPED FOR LIFE Because the way was steep and long, And through a strange and lonely land, God placed upon my lips a song, And put a lantern in my hand. Joyce Kilmer
FULL LIFE If you observe a really happy man you will find him building a boat, writing a symphony, educating his son, growing double dahlias in his garden, or looking for dinosaur eggs in the…
A BOY AND HIS DOG Just wandering down a winding path, A picture of contentment and joy. A soft and wiggly puppy And a freckle-faced, barefoot boy. With fishing pole on his shoulder And his…
I HAVE FOUND JOY I have found such joy in simple things -- A plain clean room, a nut-brown loaf of bread, A cup of milk, a kettle as it sings, And in a leaf-…
A SIMPLE FORMULA You should do something every day to make other people happy, even if it's only to leave them alone.
HELEN KELLER ON HAPPINESS Many persons have a wrong idea about what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratifications, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
ON THE RIGHT TO BE UNHAPPY W. H. Auden expresses contempt for the happiness of a crowing rooster. Hearing 'A cock pronouncing himself though all his sons had been castrated and eaten,' Auden says, 'I…
MAKE SOMEONE HAPPY The late Congressman Sol Bloom would habitually drop a coin into the street. When someone asked why, he said, laughingly, "Oh, somebody is sure to find it and be happy the rest…
