Ever Thought About Becoming a Joyologist?

One night early last week, I was having a hard time sleeping so I flipped on my bedside radio and dialed in a late night talk show. When I do that, I use earphones so I won't disturb my husband's sleep, but the conversation was so unusual, I amost woke him up to share with him.

One person said, "I think I'm going to change professions and become a Joyologist." I perked up my ears at that new word and determined to look it up the next moring, but I didn't have to. The talkshow host probed into the subject, and asked the exact same questions I would have asked.

"What does a Joyologist do?" he asked. The answer was that Joyologists are people trained in the art of laughter. The person on the talk show went on to tell about a Joyologist he had met while traveling with a band. The leader of the band hired her to make sure everyone was comfortable and as happy as possible.

She was expected to have a smile for everyone and be lavish with her hugs. If a backrub was needed, she would provide it, along with small talk to keep the clients cheerful. She made sure each room was arranged for maximum comfort, and watched to see that every need was met. Above all, she went out of her way to insure that there was lots of laughter in the group.

I thought it sounded like one of the first jobs to be eliminated during an economic downturn, but, after giving it some thought, I decided that maybe a flood of Joyologists turned loose in the country right now might be exactly what we need.

Guess what our pastor's sermon topic was the following Sunday? That's right-- JOY. Now if that isn't an interesting coincidence, I never saw one.

Anyway, his point was that Christians, of all people, should be filled with joy--not just when things are going our way, or when we get an unexpected blessing, but every day of our lives. Maybe we don't need a Joyologist after all--we can be our own Joyologists.

He finished his sermon by telling us about a friend of his who said that the letters in the word, "Joy," stood for Jesus first, Others second, and Yourself last.

That was kind of a second coincidence since I had used a book called J. O. Y. with a Bible Club I ran for teens years and years ago. It was written by a famous, (famous at the time, but I can't remember his name now), ball player who had adopted "Jesus first, Others second, and Yourself last," as a motto for his life.

Anyway, it was a great book and inspired kids to look beyond themselves and consider their obligations to God and to others.

My pastor ended his presentation that morning by saying that the problem with most people was that they ended up spelling JOY backwards, "Yourself first, Others second, and Jesus last." How true that is.

(If anyone is familiar with the book, J.O.Y. could you please comment giving the author's name? I would like to get my hands on that book again, and my copy seems to have disappeared.)