As I may have mentioned before, we do a lot of singing with the kids. Part of the reason for this is J’s camp background. Her years as a camp director left her with quite a collection of camp songs. Some of these songs, strangely enough, are converted spirituals.

So it was that I found myself on this past vacation driving to Georgia with a car full of people singing “This Joy that I Have”

This joy that I have, the world didn’t give it to me!
This joy that I have, the world didn’t give it to me!
This joy that I have, the world didn’t give it to me!
The world didn’t give it, the world can’t take it awa-ay!

The song is pretty straightforward. After each verse, someone else shouts out something that the world didn’t give them: love, freedom, hope, and so on. To be honest, it makes me a little nervous. It sounds a little like we’re taunting fate – tempting it to try to take things away from us. Consequently, I always call out something mundane, like “lunch” or “song”.

Apparently, this was the first time that C actually listened to the words. He had questions. “What? The world can take it away? That’s silly.”

His mom explained that “God gives us these things and the world can’t take them away from us.” Then she sang the first verse again:

This joy that I have, the world didn’t give it to me!
This joy that I have, the world didn’t give it to me!
This joy that I have, the world didn’t give it to me!
The world didn’t give it, the world can’t take it awa-ay!

C thought about this for a second and then asked. “God gives us toys?”