Choose Joy

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This morning I got up at 5:15 and drove across town to my second work-out of the "6 Week Shred"  fitness challenge I signed up for.  Week one, workout number 2.  I have a collection of t-shirts that I have ordered from various adoption and mission trip fund-raisers.  Many have bible verses on them, and other positive thoughts.  Today's shirt was a soft burgundy t-shirt with the words Choose Joy across the front.  I bought that one because his mama was raising fund for an epic surgery her little guy needed and there would be many outside costs for several months.  When I wear that shirt I think of my little buddy Elijah and how God was so faithful to him in his surgery, and to his mother through the fund-raiser.  It makes me smile. 

In class this morning at about 6:05 am, we were taking a short breather and another woman said to me, "I think that is a very appropriate shirt for us this morning"  I totally agreed.  We all needed to choose joy and not misery as we jumped and planked and crunched and shuffled.....and did something aweful called a bear crawl that I will not attempt again for sure until at least week 3. 

Recent rains have made everything start to bloom here in Iowa.  It is absolutely gorgeous outside.  Nature has this way of teaching us to choose joy, I think.  It looks and smells wonderful outside.  There is a special smell right after it rains that is so hard to describe.  Waking up in the morning to birds singing because I slept with the bedroom window open is absolutely lovely.  Spotting a lilac bush in bloom means I have to stop and smell it.  Lilacs only last a couple of weeks in spring.  Watching the farmers till and plant in the fields is humbling and makes me feel so grateful to live here.

I have a choice to make each day.  So do you.  We can choose to worry, or complain, or wallow in self-pity.  We can choose to be dissatisfied and bitter.  We can also choose.....joy.  Joy doesn't fix everything that is wrong, or heal any hurts.  Joy doesn't lie to us about hard stuff we deal with every day, or ignore flaws.  Joy is just Joy.  Joy is a state of mind that we choose.  It is not even a feeling of happiness, or euphoria, or silly laughter.  Joy is a choice.  Joy is from the Lord.  It is free.  It is endless.  It is available. 

I pray that tomorrow again, as I start a new day full of blessings and challenges, that God will give me the strength and inspiration to choose joy again.  Choosing joy makes any day a good day. 

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