I Choose JOY!

A Lesson Learned by Robin Thomas:

How many mornings do we wake up and run around trying to get everything in before meeting a deadline, or making it to an appointment?

The Lord impressed upon my heart this morning to choose JOY!

When the 5-minute drive to the grocery store took 20 minutes I got to listen to my favorite satellite station, THE MESSAGE. I saw the morning sun glistening off the brilliantly colored leaves as they arched their way in invitation down the backed up, yet tree-lined, road.

I choose JOY!

When the small shopping list turned into a hunt for a very specific item I took my time going up and down the aisles as I watched the harried shoppers picking up their last-minute items for their holiday dinners.

I choose JOY!

My checkout line was taking an extra-long time, but then I had an interesting, yet enjoyable, conversation about wingnuts with the checkout lady. She had recently worked at Home Depot and had acquired a wing nut collection. It caused me to recall a memory from college where we would award someone the “WINGNUT award” for doing something particularly stupid. Good times, good memories.

I choose JOY!

“Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials (shopping lines, Covid protocols, illness) knowing that the testing of your faith (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control, Galatians 5) will produce endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-4 (emphasis mine).

Instead of becoming agitated, I have started repeating the phrase to myself. “I choose JOY!”

As I am trying to type this, my adorable yet extremely egocentric kitty, Finn, has decided to sit in the middle of my desk and make it impossible to complete until I do his bidding.

I CHOOSE JOY! I choose to see the snuggly kitty who demands my attention, to love him, and Oh yes, let him outside.

Walter Hagan, a golfer in the 1960s said, “Don't hurry. Don't worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.” Which we have shortened to “Stop and smell the roses.”

He was definitely on to something. If you hurry through life, you miss a lot of opportunities along the way.

“There are two sides to every coin.” (English proverb 1742)

You can see the long line in the grocery store, or you can flip the coin and see the opportunity to have a conversation with someone in line.

You can be upset at traffic, or you can look at the scenery you are always too busy to see.

You can be annoyed at the cat blocking your way, or you can take a little destressing time with a snuggly, furry, creature of God. Being sick gives you time to read or rest, being stranded somewhere gives you a chance to meet someone new, and not being able to get into the restaurant you wanted to go to helps you find a new culinary delight.

I guess you could say that it is all about perspective.

So try it. The next time you find yourself in a trial, choose JOY!