Do you enjoy your job? Do you look forward to going to it every morning? Are you a TGIF type of person or a TGIM (Thank God it’s Monday) type of person?
I meet a lot of people who endure their job rather than enjoying it. Some of these same people believe there must be a job out there that doesn’t feel like work. They’ve heard the old maxim, “Find something you love to do and you’ll never work another day in your life.”
Have you ever eaten too much of a good thing? So much so that it made you sick? I remember one Halloween in particular…because Halloween is national junk food day. And this particular one my kids had nothing but junk food. They had a party at school complete with cupcakes and candy. We went out to Friendly’s and they had a milkshake. We did the Halloween Parade our church puts on with the town and they had hotdogs, popcorn, and of course, as fast as they were filling up their bag with candy from trick or treating they were eating it. I had no idea how much junk food they really had.
But in the middle of the night…I found out pretty quickly…one child vomited it all over their room, their sheets, the floors, and the walls. After they covered their room they left a trail all the way to the bathroom. I don’t think anything actually made it into the toilet.
If you were on Family Feud and the question was, “Practices Christians have to restore their soul.” I bet right after prayer you would name reading the Bible.
But if you’re honest it’s really not helping you rediscover your soul. Maybe you would say it feels more like a chore than something that breathes life into you.
Do you find it difficult to pray? Do you feel guilty about not praying more? Maybe you don’t know where to start. Maybe you know lots of templates and acrostics on “how” to pray, but at the end of the day there really isn’t a lot of praying going on.
Here is what I want to encourage you to do as you head into the fall. Start with praying about what matters most to you. You probably can think of lots of things that should matter to you…like the poor…political leaders. And because we don’t often pray about those things we feel guilty. We feel like a failure before we even start.
Have you ever questioned whether God was good? It’s one of the most important questions for you to settle about the nature of God.
Your answer will make the challenges of your life easier or more difficult.
Last week I shared with you 3 ways you can increase your joy. You can find them here. This week I want to finish up that list. So let’s jump right in.
Last week we looked at why you should be on the joy wagon. I want to give you 6 practical things you can do to increase joy every day of your life. I’ll give you the first 3 this week.
Here we go…
Would you say you are more joyful this year than last? I think one of the signs of spiritual maturity is an increasing level of joy.
It’s not easy to be growing in joy. With each passing year you develop a few more aches and pains. Maybe a door closed on a dream. Maybe someone you loved passed away. Each year brings new challenges and those challenges can make you cynical or more joyful.
My wife and I went to visit a friend last week who was having surgery at Sloan Kettering in NYC. After visiting with him it was time to head back to the train station. It was a beautiful day and I was excited about finally being outside after a long winter. Google Maps said it was only an hour walk from the hospital to the train station. No big deal. Right?!?
My wife was not so excited about an hour walk through the city. She kept saying this weird word…Uber…Uber… I’m thinking she must mean she is Uber-excited about walking. I tried to convince her it would be an adventure!
The other morning I woke up to a couple extra inches of snow which isn’t unusual in New York. After I had finished clearing the snow, I asked my wife if she wanted to go for a walk around the block.
Fresh snowfalls are beautiful as they blanket the landscape with a sense of purity. The scene is something every Christmas card and movie tries to capture.
