Day 1 - Look up a scripture about Joy or Happiness and write it on an index card. Use it as a reminder thoughout the day of where my joy and happiness comes from
Well, one thing I learned very quickly, that I already knew but how well it works really hit me. When you are accountable to others you have a much greater possiblity of accomplishing something. So first thing this morning, before church, I looked up all the scriptures that spoke about Joy and/or happiness. This is Day 1 of my 30 days of happiness challenge.
It was hard to choose because there are so many scriptures that talk about joy in the Lord, in some versions it's happy or rejoice. Here are two I chose to keep before me all day long.
"Yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! " Habakkuk 3:18
"I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love, for you have seen my troubles, and you care about the anguish of my soul." Psalm 31:7
I have reflected today often on these, as I attended church this morning it "seemed" as though all the songs were about God's goodness and provision in all times and seasons of our lives.
It's about 4pm right now and I am just reflecting on the fact that just starting the day with a very specific scripture from God's Word really does keep whatever that Word says before you and keeps you focused on Him and His promises, so as a result, I am walking in a greater measure of joy and happiness today. MMMM could it be that this might be working already! :)
My take away from this is - during this month I am going to have a specific scripture each morning about joy or happiness to be part of my day.
With many of my posts I am going to add a little fun thing to do, so today I am giving you a link to a happiness test. http://stress.about.com/library/happiness/bl_happiness_quiz.htm
Ok, it's time to publish. Day 1 complete and 29 more to go. Get ready for tomorrow, think now what tomorrows step will be for you, as for me tomorrow I will wake up with a positive attitude and positive thoughts. I will find a scripture concerning renewing your mind and I believe it's going to be a great day! I can't wait!
" Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! "Philippians 4:4 (New Living Translation)
Does that really say always?
8 comments:
Hab. 3 is one of my all-time favorite scriptures.
Man, these scriptures really don't leave any room for hormones or moodiness do they now? LOL
Rom 12: 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Just getting a headstart on tomorrow. :-)
Cindy @ Priceless Gain
I am a night person and will write my thoughts in the stillness when everyone else is asleep. So I ponder during the day and write well after midnight. It will be interesting to see how my thoughts follow Kathy’s since she will post first. For the first day, I researched the word ‘joy’, I also found a new word – METONYMY, meaning a figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated, as in the use of ‘count heads’ for ‘count people’, ‘Washington’ for ‘ the United States government’. As we apply that to JOY (Greek ‘chara’), we use the word HAPPINESS. So do we really mean JOY when we say happy and the reverse? Do they have different meanings? Some biblical definitions – HAPPY basically means ‘blessed’; ‘to bless’ means to cause to prosper, to make happy (short version). For JOY as a noun there is – delight, gladness, joyfulness, the occasion or cause of joy, benefit, to abound more exceedingly as in ‘I overflow with joy.’ As to the circumstances attending cooperation in the authority of the Lord, JOY is associated with life and experiences of sorrow, to prepare for and enlarge the capacity for joy. Other sources of JOY are faith, hope, the joy of others, and God Himself is the ground and object of the believer’s joy.
There are other Greek words where JOY is used as a verb. Looking for repeated patterns in the above research, one word that stands out for me is ‘oninemi’ – to have profit, derive benefit (let me have joy). Since I am always looking ‘to benefit from’ a pursuit (being a very literal person and covetous of my time), I chose this as a beginning point. If I benefit from an experience, does it bring me joy or can it keep me in joy? It is used this way in Philemon 20. Since this is a short book of only 25 verses I will try to work this into my schedule to see what the Lord would show me.
As I left for church Sunday morning pondering all of this, I said to myself ‘I will study JOY’, and the Lord replied to me “but are you content? Do you know what that means? You need to first be content before you can pursue JOY. You are not content, therefore you do not perceive.” That was an eye opener. Was that really where I was? In church I looked up the few references my concordance had on CONTENT. The familiar one – Phil 4:11 – I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am – in any and every circumstance, highs and lows. And then in verse 13 – I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (my words) – His power that is available to me is perfected through walking with me in the circumstances. If I join with Him, I have access to greater power. So does this give greater meaning to the James verse? Here is the translation from the NLT – James 1:2-4
‘Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.’
This still comes down to does this make me content, content in where I am, content in what I do, so that I will perceive JOY? I wasn’t looking to grow in endurance just so that I can perceive JOY. Message – when your faith can stand through the circumstances of trial, then you will be able to keep your joy. Path – faith, trial, endurance, contentment, joy.
Cindy,
I was going to use Roman 12:2 but found another that was great. It will be in todays post. Keep us posted on how you do today!
Juliette,
Wow, what a great lesson on Joy and Happiness. I actually did a small study on the two words yesterday also and came up with some of the same insight. Of Course, my study was not quite as detailed as yours. :) But I love it - I hope some people just read your comment - it it's own post - I think you should start a blog....maybe in Feb. :)
My favorite part was this -Message – when your faith can stand through the circumstances of trial, then you will be able to keep your joy. Path – faith, trial, endurance, contentment, joy.
I honestly think I am on that path - and I am ready to start the joy part!
During this time of discovery, I am finding that I am scrutinizing information and marvel at you all that can simply enjoy JOY. I know I need to come to a conclusion in order to believe what I am being told. Hence God usually puts me on a path that will help me trust what I am hearing through others. Sometimes it is very laborious and I am not accustomed to blogging with short responses. I am thinking about calling these sessions The Discovery of Joy, or The Pursuit of Joy (nawwww). How about Discovering Joy? In any case, as the words come to me, I’ll identify them. I was impressed this morning by a simple task that I would like to share with you before I go out into the world today. I have been contemplating the James passage of yesterday while I was preparing dinner. I am in the midst of boiling chicken that will be used in a couple of dishes, primarily first in chicken pot pie and then a soup. As I swirled the ingredients together in the pot, I began to think about them in light of James (or the Lord was pointing out some things to me). I was just going to boil the chicken in water and throw the stock away because I did not want to make more than the pie. Then being the frugal person I am, I thought it would be a waste not to make a stock and choose to do something with it, even if it wasn’t my first choice. (1st note – there was a choice made) Now just plain chicken water is very tasteless and would need enhancing if it was to be useful. And you do not enhance after the fact because the flavor would not be fully integrated. (2nd note – things must be done in combination and not alone or sequential) My choices for the stock without knowing the finished dish were the standard ones that would not interfere with the flavors of the future choices but would only add the necessary foundational character needed for the base in the dish. (3rd note – a foundation still needs to be established before you begin the journey, not knowing the path in advance, because when you are already on the path you cannot go back to get what you need; you must be fully prepared without prior knowledge for a successful outcome. Who but God could help with that one? TRUST is another word we will try to avoid investigating until forced to.) My standard items for a good chicken stock base are strong yellow onions, not the sweet kind, lots of bay laurel leaves (supposedly poisonous when eaten directly), way more than a few because I like the flavor, whole peppercorns because the ground ones leave a dust in the broth, garlic, and sea salt. I can use whole garlic cloves but mostly use chopped in olive oil because I like to prepare a whole head of garlic or two in advance and keep it in the frig in olive oil for future use. I don’t always add any vegetables when I don’t know what I want for the end. These are minimum ingredients for the stock and good boiled chicken meat. (4th note – items that are caustic, troublesome and poisonous alone, when combined with a purposed end, can aid the outcome. The final product can be greatly enhanced because of their presence and participation.) After the harsher ingredients, more gentle ingredients such as carrots, celery, etc. could be added to further enhance the flavor particularly for a soup but not necessarily to boil a good chicken meat. (5th note – although mercy is desired, sometimes it is far better to go through with limited support so that the desired result is achieved and not some weak, single function outcome. If I don’t endure the training effort, I won’t develop far better skills that are transferable to many areas.) I seem to always have the harsher ingredients readily available because they endure but the more gentle ones rot more quickly and hence are only purchased for immediate use when their function is already identified.
I will get back to you after midnight if the Lord reveals more analogy.
I'm a day behind but I'll catch up :) My joy scripture is 1 Thessalonians 5:16 Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
This is a wonderful challenge and I'm excited about the days to come :)
Deborah,
Thanks for joining us...and yes you can catch up. :)
I love the verse you chose. It's like Cindy said, these scriptures don't leave room for hormones or moodiness....(give thanks in ALL circumstances..wow that difficult sometimes.
Keep us posted!
Juliette,
Amazing what a pot of soup can reveal to you when you are aware and looking for God to speak to you.
I love your session names...are we doing sessions? :)
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