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. 

The first thing I found was that I was becoming more and more aware and appreciative of the joy and other spiritual qualities expressed by children. Jesus loved little children, associating them with the kingdom of heaven (see Matthew 19:14), and Mrs. Eddy also loved and cherished children. One of her early students recalls her saying that “. . . the most beautiful thing is a little child” (We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, Expanded Edition, Vol. 1, p. 173).

I soon began finding opportunities to greet young children with a little wave and a smile. I am always greatly moved when they respond with a wonderful look of innocent inquisitiveness and then follow with their own little wave and a beautiful, cheerful smile. Over the years, I have taught many children in both secondary school and the Christian Science Sunday School, but now very young children are teaching me the pure language of joy. Through this, the expression of joy is becoming less and less a foreign language to me.

Other opportunities came as I began looking for more occasions to express that joy. Having grown up as an American child in the Latin American country of Colombia, I had gained a special affection and affinity for Hispanic cultures and peoples. In my teaching career in the United States public schools, I greatly enjoyed speaking with Latino students in Spanish. 

Although I am now retired, when I am about town, I continue to greet Spanish-speaking people in their native tongue, and that regularly results in a wonderful chat. I also like to show them a message on one of my sweatshirts. It reads, “God is Love” on the front and “Dios es Amor” on the back. Those I’ve talked with have always seemed delighted by that, and I am delighted to share with them this message of universal love. My social experiences are becoming more and more natural and meaningful as I continue expressing the pure language of joy with less and less of a “foreign accent.”

I should be able to express the joy of Soul with the same consistency with which I express the honesty of divine Truth.

As we grow in our understanding of true, spiritual joy, we naturally want to share this quality in the larger context of all humankind and the challenges that confront us. Problems such as gun violence, wars, and political vitriol can be very disturbing. We may ask ourselves how we can possibly be joyful while these things are going on or if our expression of joy is insensitive to the sufferings of others.

But a more helpful and rousing question is, What are we believing to be true of the children of God, Spirit, who is all good? If we believe them to be material, mortal, and vulnerable to evil, aren’t we making the situation worse by adding our acceptance of these beliefs to world problems? If we really want to help heal humanity’s problems, we need to instead see everyone as God does—as children of Soul: perfect, immortal, and spiritual. And we can do this with joy. 

Taking this approach has given me a wonderful sense of dominion and freedom, of peace and power. Instead of being discouraged or depressed about humanity’s problems, I am now contributing with joy to their solution, knowing that, as Science and Health proclaims, “. . . the world feels the alterative effect of truth through every pore” (p. 224). As it is with truth, so it is with joy.

We can be so grateful for the teachings of Christian Science and for the ways they bring healing in answer to our prayers. I’m especially grateful for the experiences I’m having in learning more about and expressing the language of Soul. I am no longer sad. My sense of joy has caught up with my sense of honesty. The more I live this language, the less foreign it seems and the more I find myself expressing it fully and clearly. 

Whatever languages we speak in our multilingual world, all of us—children of God—speak with superfluency the language of Soul, which is clearly comprehended by all and needs no translation. All children of every age and all peoples of every nation are included in the language of spiritual joy without accent or anything alien. The clearer this truth becomes, the more joyous each one of us will be in expressing all the qualities of God, ridding ourselves and others of sorrow and helping to bring about harmony and unity.