This is rerun of a post from Oct 2008.

I just love lipstick!  There's something so simple and so wonderful about a great tube of lipstick.  Of course, there are so many lipstick options these days I get easily confused.

Recently I hit the jackpot on lipstick options – a local drugstore is closing and all the makeup is 70% off – yep, you heard right, 70% off.  Immediately I started stocking up on lipsticks – all kinds of shades, types, blends.

There's the tingling lipstick – I didn't quite know what happened when I put this on my lips and it felt like my lips were sort of burning.  Not the feeling you want on your lips or from you lipstick.

I've been poisoned.  Some crazed person has loaded my lipstick with some kind of tingling lip poison.

While I considered whether to call 911, poison control,  the number on the back of the lipstick package or drive myself to the nearest emergency room.  I noticed this disclaimer on the package:

Can cause tingling sensation.

Then I realized I had some lip plumper lipstick.  Sweet! Now me and Angelina Jolie look like twins.  (okay, not quite twins)

I also picked up some stay put lipstick.  Here's a little tip – if the lipstick requires a separate top coat, stay away!

The stay put lipstick goes on bright, shiny and pretty. But within the first two minutes, the pretty, shiny stuff dries and you have to add a top coat to lubricate your lips or they'll crack (like a cheap vase).

The upside of the stay put lipstick – you have to scrub the  stuff off with a brillo pad.  Choose your color wisely, once it goes on it'll be there for a while.

I also bought some pretty, shiny lip gloss and it even tastes good.  Nothing fancy about this stuff – just remember it may be pretty, but it doesn't last long. Reapply a lot!

I bought just some plain ol' lipstick in a plain ol' tube – in fact, I got a few of those.  I was in lipstick nirvana.  I bought colors I thought I would like, but wasn't sure.  I bought spring colors, fall colors and winter colors – and yes, they are all different (slightly different, but different).

I looked over my lipstick / lip gloss  haul – and it was quite a haul.

Lipstick and Lip Gloss –Two very different items.  Sort of like joy and happiness.  They look a lot alike and people mistake them for the other, but they are very different.

Joy is like lipstick – the stay put kind, the all day, long lasting, stick to your lips staining kind of lipstick.  It's not going anywhere.  This fancy shine' will  wear off  but the color will stay.  It's not flashy, but it works.

Now happiness – it's more like the lip gloss.  Pretty, shiny, flashy – and fleeting.  Nothing like that long lasting joy.

Gal 5:22 reads – the fruit of the spirit is  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self control.

Joy is a fruit of the spirit. We can't sign up for it.

There's not a Joy committee.

There are no classes on making Joy in your life.

Joy doesn't come from us.

Joy is from a life in Christ – a life fully surrendered to Christ.

This Joy – this fruit of the spirit – comes from the Lord.

In John 15: 11 Jesus said “I've spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.”

Jesus says, My Joy.  This is His Joy in us.  This Joy from the Lord.

This His Joy – this is not manmade, nothing to do with works, Joy.  This a Joy that comes from a life in Christ.

Joy isn't about us – it's about Him.

If your joy is based on what's going on around you, then I challenge you to take a harder look.  Are you mistaking happiness for joy?

Happiness is for the now, the immediate — it;s fleeting, like lip gloss.   Sadness is for a time, a season, but it fades with time – some more than others.

But Joy — now that's from the Lord.

Trust Him to show you true joy.  Surrender to Him.  Let your life in Him be one of great joy — like that long lasting lipstick.