It's in the same list

I've talked a lot in this blog about how to learn things like patience and perseverance. All the 'hard' things, that don't come naturally to me.

But then it struck me the other day that patience, perseverance and self-control are in the same list as the things that should be 'easy'. Love, joy, peace and kindness. They are all the fruit of the Spirit.

Theoretically if I need to 'learn' patience, I also need to 'learn' joy. But that goes against all I've ever thought about it. To me, joy shouldn't be something you have to learn. It should come naturally.

It's a good theory, but then I have a truly grumpy, cranky, horrible-person-wants-to-bite-everyones-heads-off week, and I think, well, joy isn't always as natural as I'd hope for.

How do you go about learning joy? I'd be interested in your ideas.