"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kind ..." James 1:2
Choose Joy has been on my heart since I finished the book The Fringe Hours last week. An entire chapter was devoted to choosing joy. The Fringe Hours is about making the most of the time that you have or to find time you didn't know you had to do what you love. It's a fabulous read. But even as I've been trying to carve out time for the activities that fill me up, I haven't managed to make the choice to be joyful. In fact, I've been irritable, impatient and discontent.
Rather than blame it on the things going on around me: namely losing my Grandfather and feeling so far away from my family, responsibilities that I can't seem to catch up on, my kids not behaving during a very rainy Monday, not getting enough sleep, my sloowww internet connection when I got up early this morning to try to get a few things done while dealing with unexpected kid interruptions, or just not getting enough "me time," for this introvert, I'm going to go out on a limb with you all and call it what it really is.
I've had a heart problem. I haven't given these things to God to deal with in my heart.
I've unconsciously been playing the comparison game on social media and striving for certain things in my life that may be completely unrealistic or ... not what God has called me to. I've used busyness as an excuse not to get into the Word. And all the while, I have not been guarding my heart as I should, nor have I been choosing joy.
I didn't come to this conclusion on my own. In a video series by Andy Stanley {A pastor of a large church in the south) called It Came From Within, he says
"What is in you is going to come out of you regardless of who is with you."
"For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." Matthew 12:34
You know those times when you slip up and forget to filter your thoughts or don't have time to plan just the right words in your head and are suddenly saying that thing you thought you'd never say out loud? Those things come from your heart! (And my heart too.)
Proverbs 4:23 says, "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."
I don't know about you, but I want to breathe LIFE into my home and my relationships. I want to carry on my Grandparent's legacy of love, service and selflessness. I want it to not be about me. And that takes work and connectedness with the Lord.
It's worth the effort though, not just to create a better self-filter, but to allow God to create in me a clean heart.
It takes careful examination of my motives and my inner struggles, confession and sometimes even reconciliation with the person you have offended. Andy Stanley encourages people to ask themselves, and even their children, some "heart" questions daily, as a way of getting down to the root cause of a conflict or behavior, which I think is a great practice to start as a family!
This is going to be my prayer this week as I spend time with the Lord asking those heart questions and becoming more aligned with His heart:
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 138:23-24
In light of this, I'm thinking about ordering one of these prints in large format (24x36) for my home to be a reminder to me. But I just haven't been able to choose between the two yet!
Which one would you choose?
Thanks for reading!
Erin
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These designs are available as 8x10 prints in my shop, And my sale continues through April 27. Want a different size, font color or different phrase? Ask me!
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>>Want to watch Andy Stanley's It Came From Within? The first teaching in the series is on YouTube.
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