A Season Of Hallmark Movies

I admit this past month I watched quite a few Hallmark movies.
I am generally not a TV watcher.
However, I enjoy watching something when I sit and have my cup of tea in the afternoon.
The Hallmark channel has been my go-to station.

One of my daughters loves the Hallmark channel.
She asked me to DVR many of the Christmas movies so we could watch them together.
There is only so much time to catch up on movies in your queue.
We watched a few together but the others, I watched by myself.

I wondered why I was so drawn to the Hallmark channel this year.
I admit that the stories are formulaic.
I admit that the endings are predictable.
I admit that the plot has been done before with a different seasonal twist.

This year, I found comfort in that.
This year, the sweet stories, though predictable, touched my heart.
This year, I admit that for an hour and a half (without commercials) I escaped.
This year, I needed that time with my cup of tea in the afternoon.

It’s feel-good TV…The main characters do the right thing. The problems get worked out. The guy and girl, whatever their age or grumpiness level at the start, always end up together. This kind of TV has always drawn in older women, but Hallmark’s appeal isn’t limited to them anymore. Ratings are growing fast among 18- to 49-year-old women, and a growing number of men are tuning in as well. Men account for some of the jump in the Nielsen ratings, and when the channel does focus groups, increasing numbers of men say they watch with their wives.“The environment is undeniable contentious. We are a place you can go and feel good,” says Bill Abbott, chief executive of Crown Media. That’s a polite way of saying more and more Americans are turning to the Hallmark Channel for relief from the daily news cycle…Turn on the news and you see people who can’t get along, even in the same party. Turn on Hallmark and everyone ends the show smiling. (Wonkblog, Heather Long August 21, 2017)

I read articles about the popularity of the Hallmark Channel especially this year.
We all need a bit of a joy boost every day of every year.
There is nothing wrong with a cup of tea and a Hallmark movie.
A respite from the daily grind and negativity is welcome.

Hallmark Movies, a good book, or music playing in the background helps to lift our spirits.
A long walk, a short nap, or lunch with a friend turns our attention elsewhere for a while.
A luxurious bath, a hot shower, or a pedicure help us to feel pampered.
All of these things, though wonderful, are a source of temporary joy.

None of these things are solutions in and of themselves.
Diversions and escapes may raise our happiness quotient for a bit.
We experience fleeting joy.
We experience joy until the end of the movie, the book, the bath, the lunch, or the pedicure.

However, fleeting joy can become lasting joy.
Lasting joy cannot help but exude from our countenance.
It has to overflow.
It cannot be contained.

Lasting joy cannot be manufactured.
Lasting joy cannot be faked.
Lasting joy is not something we can achieve on our own.
Lasting joy is a gift from God alone.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

We need a deposit of joy in our soul.
We cannot deposit that joy into our soul on our own.
The joy has to come from Someone else who is the Source of all joy.
That joy has to come from the One who is the Incarnation of joy in our lives.

God the Father fills us with joy and peace when we trust in Him.
Life is still hard.
Life is still daily.
However, we have a deposit, from which no one can ever withdraw.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,  to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,  who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:1-14)

We have lasting joy because of the hope that is in us ; that can never be taken away from us.
In Christ, we are marked with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is our deposit; the guarantee of our inheritance.
We have a Source of our joy, which endlessly flows and frequently overflows.

I still like to watch an occasional Hallmark movie.
There are things that I enjoy, which put a smile on my face.
However, my lasting joy comes from the One who has lavished His grace upon me.
My lasting joy comes from the One with the nail scarred hands; wounds He incurred for me.

Where does your joy come from?
Anything apart from Christ will only give you fleeting moments of joy.
Apart from Christ, the joy will never last.
In Christ, there is fullness of joy forever.