Press the arrow and listen to worship music while reading today’s devotion.

Jeremy Camp Let it Fade

Scripture
The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.
I will advise you and watch over you.
Do not be like a senseless horse or mule
that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.”
…Unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord.
So rejoice in the Lord and be glad, all you who obey him!
Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure!
Psalm 32:8-11, selected

Observation
In my file drawer I keep a thick folder of stick figures drawn by my daughter, finger paints of my son and every encouraging note and email I’ve ever received. In fact that folder has turned into many volumes of scrapbooks I keep in storage for days when smiles come with more difficulty. The label on the top of the file reads “Joy File”. On sullen days I pull it out and chuckle again.

If we should recycle our garbage, should we not also recycle good things as well? Rejoicing is another word for recycling our joy, for this is a choice to re-joy life by smiling again over old things.

Rejoicing is more than something that gives me pleasure, it’s also something that gives God flexibility to improve my life. When I don’t rejoice I take my negative opinion too seriously. Without joy I listen only to my own narrow point of view. My neck becomes stiff and my heart becomes stubborn. The Bible word to describe me is something close to donkey, but not as pleasant. When I have not pursued the pleasure of re-joying I become like a stubborn mule. God can only lead me with the two-by-four of consequences. The best he can do with my life is to keep me under control. There is no willing following of him.

When I rejoice I become flexible to God’s direction and life becomes fluid as I move through his grace to his next plan for me. The question is: how can we rejoice when there is nothing fresh to take joy in? The answer is: recycle past joys and be happy again about them. Joy never wears out, it can always be used again.

Lilly Bailey was the most optimistic human being I’ve ever known, best of all she was my aunt. There were many downbeat moments in her life. She lost a son to a fever and a grandson was tragically run over by his own mother’s car. She outlived three husbands, becoming a widow three times. Yet at 96 she was as chipper as ever. She could always find the positive in anything. We were once driving through a depressing part of town with dilapidated houses. Of course, Aunt Lilly didn’t see all of that, instead she pointed to an upper window and exclaimed, “See those pretty flowers!” In the midst of the slum was a vase filled with red roses. When asked the source of her jubilant spirit she explained that her father was something of an ogre, a negative man. She made a choice as a child to say something positive or nothing at all. Joy is a choice, and with that joy God can move anything forward in our lives.

Application
The psalm writer said, “Unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord.” There is much joy along the road of my journey if I will look for it and use it to speed my way. The world’s largest royal palace is the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. There I saw a slab of stone probably 90 feet long intricately carved with dragons and phoenixes. The sign explained that the slab came from a quarry miles away, yet without modern transport, the stone was delivered in one piece on the building site. The workers moved the stone in the frigid winter. Along the roadway wells were dug at intervals. Water was drawn and poured over the dry roadbed. Allowed to freeze overnight, the mud became like a luge and the stone like a bobsled shuttling toward Beijing. There is much joy along our journey, no matter how heavy the load may be, for we are surrounded by the unfailing love of the LOrd. Our joy and the choice to rejoice and recycle our joy makes it possible for the Lord to move things that no one else can budge. What is in my joy file today. It is time to rejoice.

Prayer
Father, through out this day let my mind reflect over the thousands of happy moments you have invested into my life. Let me live on the reruns of joy this day. Amen.