Day 2528 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.
Psalm 43:5 NIV
Sitting here this morning watching the clouds slowly roll by outside our window, and I just feel like I've misplaced something. Like I've let something slip out of my hands. Didn't notice it at the time. Didn't feel it slipping away. Don't know when it happened or how long it took. But it just feels like something is further from reach than it should be.
Life can be a heavy weight to carry. There's no doubt about it. We face rainy days and hard times. We get blindsided with challenges we never would have chosen to endure. We get caught in this seemingly endless ebb and flow of joy and sorrow. But if we ever took a step back and looked at things we might realize that much of the grief we face is actually caused by choices we make, or fail to make.
Happiness is a pretty necessary thing in life but how often do we really make it a priority? How often do we actually evaluate the things we're doing to ensure that they're not keeping that happiness at bay? How often do we do things, say things, or think things without considering them that may well be undermining the joy that we're all looking for in life?
We don't really like to spend much time thinking about this, but our choices really do have a way of backfiring if we don't take the time to make sure they're the best choices that we can be making. If we allow ourselves to start focusing on the wrong things then we're starting down the wrong path. If we take our eyes off of what matters then we're bound to start struggling. If we lose sight of just how important our happiness is then it may very well take a backseat to countless other things and eventually become nothing but a distant memory.
The fact is that today isn't all that different from yesterday. Not that different from those days that seem long past where happiness and joy were easier to find. Not much around us has changed, so that means that the struggle and strife are caused within. The weight of sin, guilt, shame, regret, embarrassment, and the sting of so many poor choices will easily crush any joy right out of our lives if we let it. If we let it. There's the key: We don't have to!
Each day gives us the option to choose happiness or sorrow. Joy or pain. To smile or to walk around with our heads down. We just have to stop letting other things make that choice for us. Stop letting sin kick your legs out from under you. Stop letting the shame of the past make the joy of today a struggle to find. Stop letting the weight of your mistakes make you question God's love and mercy for you. It's just all pointless and completely unnecessary.
What we face in life doesn't really have the power to determine our joy. But when we're doing things that are already jeopardizing our happiness then whenever we face one of life's many trials, then that happiness is going to be even harder to hold onto. The fact is that God is good and He has never stopped being good. His plans have never changed. We just get distracted, turned around, and focused on all the wrong things.
Friends, don't let life steal your happiness. Sure, it's not always sunshine and roses. But when we remember just how good God really is and how much He has done for us, well, all this other stuff just seems to fall back into its proper place. And our joy will be so much easier to find and hold onto when we stop letting ourselves give it away to things like sin, doubt, or shame. It's all a choice, but we'd be so much better off if we choose to trust in God, focus on Him, and never let anything pull us in a different direction.
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