Sharing happiness

Last night, the church in whose kids' program I volunteer had a pine car derby race for the kids - they buy kits a few weeks in advance and get to carve and paint the cars, and everyone has a great time. Anyway, I was watching one of the first-graders who happened to be sitting near me, who had a decently fast car. When his car sped down the track for a win, he would burst with happiness - fist in the air, big grin, etc. - and his brother would congratulate him and his mom would cheer. It was really sweet! But what really struck me was that a little later, when the older kids raced and his brother's car won a race, he responded with the same incredible expression of happiness. There was no difference; whether the joy of the win belonged to him or to his brother, he exploded with excitement and delight. His brother and mom were the same way, cheering with equal enthusiasm no matter who in their family happened to be racing and doing well.

And as I watched them I thought, this is how we're supposed to be. As members of the family of God, this is how we're supposed to act and feel towards one another: to be genuinely happy and delighted when someone else does well and is excited, just as we are happy when we ourselves do well. We don't need to quench our joy at our own successes - we need to expand and increase our joy at the successes of our brothers (and sisters!) in Christ, so that whenever one of them finds victory or success or answered prayer, we can burst with the shared happiness on their behalf.