Christ Jesus told his followers, “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” (John 15:11). Christian Science teaches that joy is a quality of Soul, God, and that man, who the Bible tells us is God’s image and likeness, fully reflects this quality. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, gives us the basis for our expression of the fullness of joy when she writes, “The sinless joy,—the perfect harmony and immortality of Life, possessing unlimited divine beauty and goodness without a single bodily pleasure or pain,—constitutes the only veritable, indestructible man, whose being is spiritual” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 76).

I have always been a student of Christian Science, and I am very grateful for the blessings that have come from my study and practice of it. But there was a time in my life when joy seemed like a foreign language to me. One day it came to me that I had little trouble expressing such Godlike qualities as freedom and honesty. I felt certain, for instance, that I would never do anything dishonest, and I realized that I should be equally certain of my ability to maintain a joyous attitude. I should be able to express the joy of Soul with the same consistency with which I express the honesty of divine Truth. 

The inspiration I had gained from the passages quoted earlier led me to look for opportunities to understand and express my God-given joy—the joy that I naturally reflect as the image of God.