When JOY Finds You

And I wasn't really sure how it happened, really.  It snuck up on me when I wasn't looking.  

And that's how sadness happens sometimes, doesn't it?

It just sneaks up on us when we're not looking.  When we're least expecting it.

It was a Wednesday and I remember it well.  An ordinary day.  Or was it?  A day filled with ordinary tasks at least.  Laundry.  Dishes.  Meals.  And yet not a single thing going right.

Some days we try hard to create the life we want.  We make lists and we rush and we race to get it all done.  We spin in circles trying to accomplish it all.  We compare our lives to those we suspect have it better.  We long for more time.  We complain because the gifts aren't good enough.  The house is too small.  The kids are too young.  The vacation was too short.  The winter is coming.  The car is out of gas.  I'm too busy.  I'm too tired.  They didn't call.  He was late again.

And in the rush we lose our joy.  In the madness, we become someone we dislike.

We say things we don't mean.  We lose focus on the things that really matter.

And we, too, become the grumbling Israelites who were defined not by the grace and goodness of a merciful Father, but by their dreaded circumstances.

Because joy... real joy... has never been circumstantial.  Never.  And how we chose to SEE the gifts He gives is the true definition of spiritual maturity.

I can choose to focus my days on that which threatens to kill me, or I can choose with every fiber in my being to zero in on the gifts He gives me even when my circumstances tell a different story.

Because the dishwasher will break.

And the kids will fight.

And the cold dead of winter will come.

And bills will pile high.

And the driver will cut me off.

And basements will flood.

And the enemy will laugh only when we give him reason to believe his schemes are working.

Because this side of eternity is begging, no... hurting for joy.  Our weary souls hunger for the fullness of life that Jesus died for us to experience.  

And so the fight becomes real.  But it's worth it.

Because the JOY of the Lord is my Strength.

I read it.  Out loud so that my heart can take it all in.

"This is a sacred day before our Lord.  Don't be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!"  {Nehemiah 8:10b}

Because the garbage disposal could stop working and my knees could still hurt... worse than ever before... but I could still praise God.  I will still praise God.  Because these, too, are gifts.  Everything is a gift!  

And it's about perspective.  What will I choose to see? 

Because when we choose to see the good even in the midst of hard circumstances, we're telling the enemy that he's a liar.  We're choosing to write a better, more beautiful story.

And I document the moment so I won't forget...

"... the sky fills with gold and puffy white. And it feels close enough to touch. I smile wide as I fill with joy and in a moment I forget everything else. The noise of the world disappears. The debating and the disagreeing and the ugly that districts happiness fades away. And all I feel is joy. A glimpse of heaven. And I don't want to miss the joy this side of eternity. All life can be a hunt for this kind of beauty."

Finding JOY in the JOurneY,