Choosing Joy
So, in the barn the other day I heard the radio playing some Christmas music. I began to think about the themes of Christmas. Those who know me know I love Christmas. I especially love Advent. The countdown to Christmas, that usually begins the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We as a family usually decorate our tree that evening with friends. I love the reding of the Christmas Story. I love the lighting of the advent candle each Sunday before Christmas.
Each Candle, each week celebrates a different theme. One of those themes is Joy. You know how the carol goes, quoting the angels who announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds, “Joy to the world...”
I thought, how can I have joy now, how can those who have lost, those who mourn those who grieve have joy at a time like this? When this is supposed to be a season of joy.
The Lord answered me with this word… Philippians 4:4-5 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
“Rejoice in the Lord always.” God says… Not just when you feel like it. I had to let that roll around in my head for a bit. (I had to let it Ruminate) God is not a liar, God is good, God does not demand us do that which He will not give us the ability to do. And I know the early Christians who wrote the New Testament weren’t living in the most comfortable times when they wrote these things, so they knew the power of what they were saying. So how do I “Rejoice in the Lord”?
Perhaps I need to re-evaluate what it even means to rejoice? I think our world and our culture gives us shallow interpretations of things. But joy is not necessarily ignoring the pain, it is not anesthetizing ourselves from it (yes I love using big words, so you don’t have to leave this page and go to dictionary.com this one means using any means, alcohol, drugs, social media, busyness, crowds watching TV anything, like an anesthesia to dull or numb the pain or take our minds off of it…)
Having joy, rejoicing in God does not mean that everything is good with the world, it merely means choosing to have a balanced perspective. People say things are not just black or white there is gray. While the truth is usually black and white, often uncomfortably so, the world is not. There is beauty and there is pain. The presence of beauty in a sunrise does not eliminate the pain of grief, nor does the pain of grief eliminate the beauty of a sunrise.
Having joy, rejoicing in the Lord always, is choosing not to forget the beauty, not to forget the good in this life, in this world even when the pain comes.
It may be harder, it may take more effort, it may not come as easy, but it is possible. In fact, the things that are usually the most worthwhile in this life are usually the most powerful, valuable and most challenging things to do.
So as Christmas approaches, I choose to rejoice. Because even amid my deepest pain I know that Philippians 4:5 is true Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Psalm 34:18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
So even when I hurt, I chose to rejoice in the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us what God’s will is for us, for you, for me. Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
In All circumstances. ALL CIRCUMSTANCES…
So, I give thanks, for my family, for my faith, for this ministry for all the people whom God has put around me and is bringing around me at this time, for the beautiful outpouring of love from our community. For the home and the Homestead, He has blessed us with. For the love of my family for how God is growing me even through the pain I feel. For his presence during my heartache.
I choose to rejoice in this Christmas season, because even though it hurts, we still celebrate that Jesus is our Immanuel “God with Us”
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