Joy in the Seasons of Life

I don''t think I have ever known anyone who experiences joy the way James McReynolds does.

Jim is my friend. I have known him many years. He seems to breathe joy in the way most of us inhale the air around us, naturally and continually. And the best thing is that he writes about it.

Jim lets us in on the sources and products of the joy in our lives all the time. He writes with a lightness and beauty we would not otherwise know. He permits us to experience some of the rarefied enjoyment that he himself actually lives with all the time.

It is wonderful that Jim has written a book about the seasons of joy in our lives-how joys morph and reemerge in new forms throughout our lifetimes, and how paying attention to these joys can enrich and bless the human psyche at every stage.

Jim has peppered his chapters with stories and illustrations that will charm, enrich, and truly enlighten his readers. This is the gift God has given him. The very concept he is working with, talking about the joys of life in the various seasons of our lives, has already caused me to think about the multiple joys in the seasons of my own life.

I recall my general happiness in childhood, the springtime of my life, and how wonderful it was to grow up in a quiet, lovely neighborhood in a small town and have my early schooling under some wonderful, kindhearted teachers. In those early years, when the weather was good, I especially loved playing for hours at a time under a big, overarching bush outside our house and pretending a lot of things that I know helped to deepen and enrich my whole life.

Then came the delights of going to college, making new friends, and finding my way into the work of the Christian ministry. I recall with pleasure the small country churches I served during my summer years, and the simple, warm-hearted goodness of the farmers and laborers who attended those churches. The joys of those little churches eventually gave way to a whole new set of joys as I pastored other, larger congregations, and as I do sometimes, left my ministerial job for a few years to teach in a college or a university. It was while I was teaching at Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville, in fact, that I first encountered young James McReynolds, then an employee of the Sunday School Board. I enjoyed his friendship both inside the classroom and in the halls and extracurricular life of the university.

What were the special joys of my autumn years? At this point, I was being given incredible opportunities to travel abroad, offering seminars to Air Force chaplains in other parts of the world, and my growing family often enjoyed the benefits of journeying with me. I also had the pleasure of publishing a number of books about a lot of things that I hoped mattered to other people as much as they did to me.

Now I am in the winter of my life, and, wonder of wonders, the joys still abound. My greatest joys are the active exchanges I continue to have with former students, parishioners, and professional acquaintances-people like Jim. I am grateful for the Internet, and the ease which I can communicate with all these wonderful folks. I approach my computer eagerly each morning, looking forward to seeing who has written since the day before. I am grateful to share in many friends'' lives not only all over the United States, but on foreign shores as well.

I am sure, from what I have already read in Joy in the Seasons of Life: Walking Each Other Home to God, this beautifully written book will remind us of joys we haven''t thought about.

Dr. John Killinger | Warrenton, Virginia