JOY...

JOY: the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires.

We try to get joy through entertainment. We pay someone to make jokes, tell stories, perform dramatic actions, sing songs. We buy the vitality of another's imagination to divert and enliven our own poor lives. The enormous entertainment industry in America is a sign of the depletion of joy in our culture. Society is a bored, gluttonous king employing a court jester to divert it after an overindulgent meal. But that kind of joy never penetrates our lives, never changes our basic constitution. The effects are only temporary-a few minutes, a few hours, a few days at most. When we run out of money, the joy trickles away.
A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, Eugene Peterson

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Romans 15:13