Choosing Joy
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Today is Sunday which means tomorrow is…well…Monday. For me this means preparing myself to face long days at work and nights filled with textbooks and homework. I am not going to lie I would much rather spend my week playing in the snow, drinking hot chocolate, and doing anything but school! However, this would also mean that I would most likely lose my job and fail all my classes. So as appealing as that may be, it is not a likely option. Maybe I am the only one who feels this way or maybe many of you are dealing with this same internal struggle. I think that without even realizing it we often believe that the circumstances of our day determines whether it is good or bad. This often stems from the idea that how we feel determines what is real. If we spill our coffee on our shirt on the way out the door we often succumb to the notion that the spilled coffee is a predictor of the how the rest of the day will go. But how deflating is that? If the ups and downs in a given moment determine our joy? Maybe joy isn’t circumstantially dependent, maybe joy is a choice we make despite whether circumstances are ideal. In James it says “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” He is quite literally saying that joy is possible even through trial. Whether it is a major life crisis or simply the struggles of day to day life. What freedom might we find if we chose to be grateful for the good moments and not let the bad ruin everything else. Can you imagine a life that is not dictated by circumstances or emotions but that is grounded in truth that never changes? So friend, I cannot promise that your week will go smoothly, that you won’t spill that coffee on your shirt, or traffic won’t make you late to work but I do believe we have a choice to make. To allow our circumstances to determine our happiness or to choose to walk through our week with joy despite whether or not we get to play in the snow and drink hot chocolate.
