After the last three devotionals, I need something a bit more uplifting, how about you? Well, today’s National Day Calendar celebration is just the medicine the doctor ordered. This is National JoyGerm Day. What, you ask, is a joygerm? Let’s find out together.
“On January 8, 1981, Joan E. White of Syracuse, New York, was reading the newspaper when she came across a story about a California couple who offered to worry for others in exchange for a fee. White believed this approach to facing the world’s problems was flawed and decided to create an organization to counteract the worriers. She founded Joygerms Unlimited and designated “January 8 as Joygerm Day, on what also happened to be her late mother Nora’s birthday.
Shortly after forming Joygerms Unlimited, White began responding to requests from people asking to join the group; she allowed people to join free of charge, as long as they sent her a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Although Joygerms Day was unofficially first held on January 8, 1981, when the idea for it and Joygerms Unlimited came about, it didn’t become a “national” day until 1985.
“The goal of the day is to “smile, hug, grin, and win over at least one grumpy grouch.” It is a day to spread cheer through “germs of joy.” It is a time for positivity, optimism, smiles, and kindness to everyone that one comes into contact with. Some celebrants, often members of Joygerms Unlimited, have gone to nursing homes and hospitals to spread cheer. Parades have also been held on the day. It is not seen as a day to ignore life’s problems, but rather, a day to rise above them.”1
Joan is 92. She’s not as active as when Joygerms began but still possesses that ultra-positive outlook. And, according to the Joyful Noiseletter published by Joan’s organization, there are over 185,000 members to the Joygerms organization. “Membership is open to anyone (of all ages) who wants to join. New members get a free membership card, a “hug coupon, entitling the bearer to be a sharer in the happy art of hugging,” and a Joygerm Smile Certificate, and a tongue depressor with the imprint, “The only thing Joygerms allow to get depressed is their tongue.”2
While the concept is definitely positive and uplifting, I don’t think it’s possible to spread joy apart from the Gospel message. Telling a joke, sharing a one-liner, giving a hug, or brightening a room with a smile may bring wonderful happiness. But true joy can only come from Jesus.
Jesus said in John 15:1-5, 11, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. (2) Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. (3) Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. (4) Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. (5) I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing… These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”
Joy is a byproduct of the Holy Spirit living within the Believer. Galatians 5:22 says “But the fruit of the Spirit is … joy…”
Christians ought to be the most joy-filled people on the planet. Joy ought to radiate from our lives. Our faces ought to shine from our walk with the Lord, so much so that it would cause others to wonder and ask about why we are so different.
Let the joy of the Lord spring from your life today. Psalms 32:11 says, “Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.”
1https://www.checkiday.com/7e0b2cda409c3fa52c46c815c30614cf/national-joygerm-day#google_vignette
2https://www.joyfulnoiseletter.com/blog/185000_members_spread_joygerms_worldwide
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