Showing Joy. The phrase was placed on my heart several years ago. It just kind of popped in my thoughts out of nowhere. We often see and hear the words "Choose Joy", but I kept hearing "Show Joy".
So what should I do with this phrase? How can it be used in the way God wants me to use those words? It bounces around my head and heart several times a day.
How can I "Show Joy"? I'll start with a smile.
Why should I "Show Joy"? Because I am a child of God.
Who do I "Show Joy" to? Everyone I have any sort of interaction with today.
I have struggled with the move back to my hometown. I feel out of place and can't' seem to fit myself back into this puzzle. I had a fulfilling life as a homemaker in the town where we previously lived, but here I can't find the same opportunities. To say I have days of feeling purposeless would be an understatement. I am praying about what God would have me do, but for now there are no clear answers. No big arrows pointing me in a direction. No signs that say you are going to get it all together soon. I just go through the motions of day to day life and hope that some way I can "Show Joy" to my family and the people I pass throughout my day.
I wrote about the number of Christmas decorations that I own with the word Joy on them. It is quite a few. Well on a Christmas Clearance table I recently ran across a simple white block with just the word Joy. Nothing really "Christmas" about the decoration. I bought it for nearly nothing and it sits on my kitchen windowsill. A daily reminder that if we know Jesus, we have all the Joy will ever need. A joy we can show in spite of the frustrations of the day.
I have a small little booklet titled "Time with God for Mothers" by Jack Countryman. In one of the short devotions he writes, "The giving mother will have a glow this is contagious and a joy that will infect everyone she loves and encounters. You are God's ray of sunshine."
So for now I will "Show Joy" in these four walls. I will be used to the best of my abilities. I will speak of God's love and the Joy He brings when I am given the opportunity. My "Showing Joy" may never grace the cover of a bestseller or be a blog that has a thousand followers, but I will still obey the words placed on my heart. And as I head out to the grocery store as soon as I press 'publish', I want a "glow that is contagious" and to "Show Joy" to everyone I encounter. As I sit in the multiple school pick up lines later this afternoon, I will eagerly await with a joyful smile an a sincere "Tell me about your day." That is the mission set before me today. That is the mission I will gladly accept.
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