Have you ever had a "no good, awful, everything went wrong, it cannot get any worse than this" sort of day? Let's admit it - we all have bad days and its so easy to succumb to it. We often tell ourselves that we failed, it was someone else's fault, or a situation beyond our control, and then give ourselves permission to let a few bad circumstances ruin our entire day.
Analogy time... Say you have five thousand dollars in your bank account. You visit the local gas station to fill up your trusty rusty and somehow a thief gets ahold of your card number. They decide to buy themselves some gas too, go on a little shopping spree, and now you are three thousand dollars short in your account. Oh so frustrating right? (Especially when it happens weeks before Christmas- spoken from experience).
So you now have two thousand dollars remaining in your account. You get upset, feel violated, angry, and may curse that gas station in a moment of frustration. But you don't flush your remaining two thousand dollars you still have down the toilet do you? Of course not!
Much in the same way, each and every day we get 1,400 minutes to live. Are we going to toss all of those minutes away when maybe only five of them are filled with no good, terrible, awful, unpleasant things? We'd like to say no, but if we are honest sometimes we do (deep sigh, we have all been there).
Often we prance, walk, or mope around life as if the circumstances we experience are directly responsible for our emotions. Something bad happens = means we have permission to be upset, angry, disappointed the remainder of the day, week, or month.
Can I tell you something- its all a BIG. Fat. Lie! At some point, we started to believe that we have little or no choice in how we feel. Friends, I urge you to understand that:
Gratitude is a choice.
Serenity is a choice.
Hope is a choice.
Love is a choice.
Happiness is a choice.
Kindness is a choice.
Joy is a choice.
One of my favorites is the story of two wolves: A grandpa is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandpa, “Which wolf will win?”
The old grandpa simply replied, “The one you feed.”
So which wolf are you feeding the most? And how the heck do you feed the "good wolf" the better kibble?
Some things to consider:
Are you making margin for joy, gratitude, hope, serenity, and so on in your life?
Really examine just how busy you are. Busyness does not equal success. In fact- if the devil cannot make you bad, surely he will make you busy! If there isn't enough time or margin, then it is time to reassess your priorities and start focusing on what is truly most important to you.
Where are you leading your heart?
The bible says in Matthew 6:21 that wherever our treasure is, our heart will follow. Our hearts are sort of like a cute puppy on a leash: impulsive, full of excitement, and will follow in the direction we lead it (most of the time). To break this down into some examples... if you treasure video games, your heart will learn to love playing them. If you treasure quality time with your spouse, your heart will learn to enjoy your time together. If you treasure snack cakes, your heart (and stomach) will grow to desire more of them.
Are God's teachings in your heart and mind?
Proverbs 7:3 asks us to keep God's words, commandments, and teachings at the front of our minds and hearts. If we do this, we may start to see our shortcomings or disappointments through God's eyes. Perhaps we can learn to actually be thankful for our shortcomings or disappointments- as they are often giving us wisdom, preparing our character, building our faith, and are likely a set-up in a sequence of events where God is about to bless us or perform a miracle. To keep it simple, consider posting sticky note verses at your desk, using a clever computer password (alwaysBgr8ful!), writing scripture on the bathroom mirror, or playing worship music first thing in the morning to set the tone of your home.
You get what you give!
If you want more encouragement, be an encourager to other people. If you want more prayer over your circumstances, ask people how you can be praying over them. If you want blessing over your finances, be prepared to bless others with yours. There is more blessing in giving than receiving (Acts 20:35) and a generous person will prosper- those that refresh others will be refreshed (Proverbs 11:25).
Choosing joy also means choosing to embrace your inner weirdness.
That might look like dance parties in the rain, building a tricked-out fort with your kids, painting your own miniatures collection, getting excited about reorganizing your storage closet (again), watching YouTube to find the latest meat smoking recipe, or laughing till' you snort aloud. Embracing who you truly are will help you become more joyful, happy, and the most authentic version of who God created you to be.
I leave you with some advice from a sunflower:
-Be Bright, Sunny, and Positive!
-Be WILD!
-Always face the SUN!
-Spread seeds of HAPPINESS!
-Rise, Shine, and hold your head high!