Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Philippians 4:4
I was preparing to go and speak to someone about feeling miserable all the time. I was thinking something along the lines of “I don’t want to be told to choose to be grateful.” I’d seen several Instagram posts about the need to choose gratitude and, even though I knew it was true, it seemed like an annoying answer. I didn’t want to have choose gratitude.
I just wanted things to be fixed.
In a similar vein, I caught this post from Jordan Lee of SoulScripts the other day:
“I’m aware of the fact that lots of you wrestle with anxiety, depression, eating disorders, shame, and more. And I know that “choosing joy” is a cute thing to put on a coffee mug or on Pinterest but not all that simple to put into action in real life. When I walked through heartbreaks, grieved loss, hated my body and starved it in an effort to control SOMETHING in my life, I never once felt like I could simply choose joy. So I’m not going to challenge you to choose joy. I’m going to challenge you to choose Jesus. That doesn’t mean you’re going to become a perfect person in three easy steps. That doesn’t mean you’ll never feel icky or stuck or sad or frustrated. But it does mean your joy isn’t something you have to manufacture but something you are given. So if that’s the only choice we can really control, I think we oughtta make it in the middle of our mess.”
After talking through everything, this person set me the task of practicing gratitude and, coming from her, it felt like real advice (not just a cookie cutter answer).
Here’s the rub: it does change things.
It’s not about putting on a big smile and pretending everything’s fine. It can be about picking out the little slivers of light that you can in the moment and then saying thank-you.
Those little reminders of God’s goodness, and the way gratitude re-focuses on Him, bring breaths of joy.
Because while it is not easy to choose joy, it is possible to choose moments of rejoicing – whether those moments come out as a whimper or as a shout of joy! And it is possible to turn your eyes to Jesus.
Wherever you’re at, consider this your kick in the butt from a fellow struggler to do what you can in choosing gratitude.
Take a moment today to choose Jesus.
Choose to acknowledge the ways in which he is already blessing us. Cry out to him and surrender the parts of your life which feel joyless. Air your heart, take the dust-sheets off things you’ve been forgetting to enjoy, re-examine what you have and appreciate it once more, celebrating our good and generous God.
Leave a Reply