set your sails for joy!

Well. It’s Monday again. Another week begins. The grind continues. A pile of work awaits. Gotta pay the bills. Wait a second. I’m going to start over.

It’s the beginning of a new week! Today has endless possibilities. God is faithful. Jesus has forgiven me. The Holy Spirit lives in me. I have a wife and a son. I have a roof over my head. I just had some bran flakes and soy milk. (Oh Yeah!) I am alive!

There that’s better! I’ve just turned this day around by choosing a joyful attitude. You can get up and say “good lord it’s morning” or you can say “good morning Lord!” Today I can set my sails toward joy or away from it. The choice is completely mine.

What do you think your day would be like today if you spent it thanking God for everything and everyone? Do you think that would impact your heart and emotions? What if you really began to count your blessings instead of your burdens?

I was listening to the Bible on CD the other day. Paul and a guy named Silas were thrown into prison. I won’t go into all the details but let’s just say they were having a bad month. What did they do? They had a pitty party right? Wrong. They started praising God out loud and transformed the environment. The depression could have set in on them pretty thick but instead they turned the entire jailhouse into an atmoshere of joy. The “choice” to have an attitude of joy led to their deliverance.

Joy is a choice. It is a matter of attitude that stems from one’s confidence in God-that He is at work-that He is in full control, that He is in the midst of whatever has happened, is happening, and will happen.

We are the ones who consciously determine which way we go. To paraphrase the poet:

One ship sails east
One ship sails west
Regardless of how the winds blow.
It is the set of the sail
And not the gale
That determines the way we go

Laughing our way through life depends on nothing external. Regardless of how the winds of adversity may blow, we can set our sail toward Joy. Joy is found in God; A God who is at work, who is in control, and who is causing all things to result in His greater glory.

I have learned so much about this over the last couple of years. Listen to Paul again…

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” Rom 8:28

Things always turn out for good when we love and trust God.

What about you today? Which way is your sail set? What attitude have you chosen today? Most days? Let’s “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Heb. 12:2

Make it a great day,
Chris