It’s morning! It’s time to start your day!

You wake up with a huge smile on your face, stretch and jump right out of that bed. You do a little skip to the shower and sing praises the whole time you are in there. You finish getting ready and put on praise music and sing as you make your coffee. You sit down and read your Bible and pray and dance out the door joyfully driving to work so excited to face your day.

Well….is this reality? I can tell you with a big NO it’s not reality for me. As a matter of fact I kinda wanna slap people like that(lol):-)… But what would it feel like if we took just one thing on that list each day and chose to do it? What if we chose to be positive and go beyond our feelings and allow our spirits to rise up above the gloom, tiredness and unmotivation that some days can bring? Jesus commands us to let joy arise in our spirits and to choose to be joyful. When our circumstances are bad, when we are facing illness, when times are tough, we really have to dig deep to find that joy. But it’s in there! Take that shovel and dig down deep inside of you to bring up that joy.

The definition of joy from the Merriam-Webster dictionary is “a feeling of great happiness, an emotion evoked by well being.”

The biblical definition of joy is “a feeling of great pleasure and happiness that is dependent on who Jesus is rather than who we are or what is happening around us.”(justdisciple.com)(Avery Rimiller)

There is a big difference between “joy” and “spiritual joy.” How awesome is it to know that our joy doesn’t have to come from who we are, what we have accomplished, or the things we possess.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary mentions “an emotion evoked by well being.” Guess what our well being as Christians is dependent on Jesus as written above by Avery Rimiller. Things happening around us such as accomplishments, celebrations, promotions, wealth only bring us temporary joy. They will all pass away one day.

Jesus is the ONLY constant source of joy. Jesus is the ONLY constant source of peace. Jesus is the ONLY constant source of hope.

How do I know this? I’ve run to so many things in my life to bring pleasure over the years. I love to have fun and fellowship, I like to shop for pretty things for my house, I love Starbucks and everything about coffee all the way down to the thousands of different mugs and the way it make my hand feel when I hold the warm cup. I find pleasure in a lot of things. And when I’m empty I search for the thing that will make me happy that day. Sometimes I try one thing and I enjoy it, but then I try something else to feel even better, then something else. And the cycle continues. And at the end of the day I enjoyed each thing but yet I feel an overwhelming emptiness.

Why? Because I’m looking for pleasure in all the things that are great and meant for pleasure but I’ve left our the most important part of my day! The part of my day where I talk to Jesus and spend time in His word.

I will not miss my morning coffee! Ya’ll don’t want me to! Seriously, it’s dangerous. lol:-).

But Jesus should be much more important to me than my coffee. He will give me more strength, satisfaction and joy than any cup of coffee can.

So, going back to the top of this blog, what can you do differently to start your day with joy, seek joy throughout your day, and end your day with joy? Maybe try one new thing each day to choose joy.

Some examples are: thankfulness, intentionally noticing something God did for you that day (if you look you will fine something), as soon as your feet touch the floor thank God for a new day, pray throughout the day, play worship music and don’t just listen but sing along and soak in the words.

Choose joy today! It’s sure not always easy. But the more you do, the easier it will become and you will be a much happier person who sees the good in things, in others and in yourself. Not because you are this super positive happy person, but because Jesus and Jesus alone has given you a joy that only He can give to you and given you a joy to help you rise above the circumstances and praise Him in all things. Put you joy on friends!

Galatians 5:22- “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will see, Rejoice.”

Psalm 118:24- “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”