Joy

There is an old rabbinic story of a farmer who had two sons. He taught them everything he knew. When the man died, the two heirs inherited the land and farmed it in equal partnership. The younger brother married and had a large family of eight wonderful children. The older brother remained single.

One year they had a bumper crop, so the bachelor brother thought to himself, “My brother has 10 mouths to feed, while I have only 1. I know he will be unwilling to renegotiate our equal partnership, so in the dark, while he is asleep, I will shift some of what I have put in my barn into his to help him feed his family.”

At the same time, the younger brother was thinking, “God has given me a wife and these 8 precious children. My brother has not been so blessed and will need more in reserve for his old age. But he will never renegotiate our partnership, so in the dark, while he is sleeping, I will slip some of the harvest already stored in my barn into his.”

So on a dark night, the two brothers came face to face – each of them on a mission of kindness to the other. According to the story, a gentle rain began to fall, but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

It was God weeping for joy because two of his children had understood life’s meaning. To selflessly care about another is to exhibit the heart of God. It is the secret to our joy.