Saturday, June 7, 2014

Doing it with Joy

One of my biggest strengths in this life is my persistence and sense of accountability. Other than social events (which I’m working on), I am pretty rock steady to be counted on for most things. Related to that, one of my greatest weaknesses is doing things with joy. To be honest, there have been many occasions where I’ve resented being the “go-to” person and have frankly taken joy in letting others know basically how much they were asking of me and how inconvenienced I was by their requests or situations.

The same thing has happened in my faith life as I’ve frequently answered callings with, “I’ll do it, but I don’t have to like it.”

When things started to unravel with a church situation and it became clear that Nate and I would have to bear most of the burden, my prayer was not for God to fix everything or even for Him to give me strength – it was simply, “God, help me do this with joy.”

I wasn’t sure how well I was doing with the joy situation, but long story short, someone COMPLETELY misinterpreted what they thought was happening because… wait for it… we seemed so happy about what was going on. Yes, me. The person whose blood boils when Taco Bell forgets the Fire sauce. The person who huffs when someone inconveniences me.

So this is what I’m challenging myself (and you) to do…

Whatever you do, do it with joy.

Come with joy. (February 2013)


Leave with joy. (June 2014)

Nothing will be purely joy, and it’s up to you to make a conscious decision to approach everything as an honor and blessing. If you can’t give, serve, and praise with joy – you need to re-evaluate what you’re doing and how you’re doing it.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” James 1:2

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