Joy is a fruit that ducks in and out of my life. I feel joy when I see my children being kind to each other. I feel joy when my husband surprises me with flowers. I even feel joy when I hear my favorite worship song on the radio. But I loose my joy...when I loose my cool. When I feel like I am owed something. When my cat knocks over a cup of water on the table, chair and floor I just cleaned (that actually just happened. God you are a funny one!) This is not true joy. "Joy is an inner disposition not based on external circumstances and therefore not subject to change. Happiness is a temporary condition based on our circumstances." The Good and Beautiful Life --James Bryan Smith. Okay, inner not outer. So no matter what life throws at me, I am going to choose to maintain my joy. I used to feel like everything that happened in my life justified my reaction (and often overreaction). That I was just a slave to my emotions and I was just recoiling to whatever would happen to bother me, thus justifying my wallowing in self-pity, pride, selfishness and the like. Now the scales have been removed from my eyes and I see that I choose my response. I choose to stay joyful. I choose to be Spirit-filled. I choose to have a tight relationship with the Lord, therefore accepting that He uses all things for the good of those who love Him. I don't get to choose what happens in my life all the time. But I get to choose my reaction every time (if I am self-controlled enough to do so.)
So that's what I am working on. Baby throws up all over me, what's my reaction? Loose out on my precious joy? Or laugh it off and get on with life. Life is too short to choose to be upset. Choose joy and your life will start to look different. My inspiration for today is 1 Peter 1:8 "Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy." Inexpressible and glorious joy. I want my life to look like that!!!(I can't put enough exclamation points on that one!!!)
It's all in the eye of the beholder, how does your life look?
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