Joyful

For the past several weeks, I have had this uncontrollable joy. It doesn't matter if I was doing a random job at work, taking care of laundry at home, or even going to the grocery store...my joy followed along. I've been saying hello to random strangers at stores and wish them a great day and even really meant it. Now, there have been a couple days where my joy was a bit lacking, but for the most part, every day is a joyous day.

In my life, I often have been called bubbly, happy, loud, etc. I guess its just part of my personality. In the past, I sometimes have to "fake" the happy when I'm not in the best of moods, but here lately, the joy that just spills out me is uncontrollable and natural.

So, I've been wondering about this joy. Why the sudden change?

Today it hit me like a ton of bricks.....BAM! It was the biggest DUH moment of the year so far.

My husband and I are participating in the One Year Bible Challenge at our church. Each day we read a section from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, & Proverbs. So far, I haven't missed a day. Not trying to toot my own horn here - so I'm just going to keep it real. Yes, I've read it...problem is, I'm not always remembering what I read. I'm following the Old Testament sections and can recall later in the day what it was about...but ask me about Psalms or Proverbs and my mind goes blank. So ya, I need to work on that whole meditating on the Word better.

So, back to the joy. My joy is totally Jesus Joy. (at least that's what I'm calling it) My day starts each morning with the Word of God running through my brain. My joy is totally of Christ and is simply a overflow of His immeasurable grace. Its the best feeling eva! Highly recommend it!!

To finish up this Joyous post, I thought it would be appropriate to leave you with some song lyrics that may be a bit childish, but still totally summarize the blessings that God is daily sending my way!

"I've got JOY down in my heart. Deep, deep, down in my heart.
J-O-Y down in my heart. Deep, deep, down in my heart.
Jesus put it there and nothing can destroy it, -stroy it, -stroy it, (HUH).
I've got JOY down in my heart. Deep, deep, down in my heart!"

Deep Thoughts with Julie

Life consists of a lot of commitments. People are committed to their jobs, their friends, their family. If married, they are hopefully committed to their spouse or if not married, maybe committed to a significant other. Others may even be obsessed with their commitment so much so that it overtakes their lives and ends up damaging other life commitments in the process.

The point is, our life is full of commitment. Its all around us and inevitable. The problem is that these days the most important things that take commitment are the ones people give up on so quickly.

I played the piano when I was younger. I hated practicing. I would've rather cleaned the bathroom, washed the dog (probably not in that order), or cleaned the entire house. Practicing was of no interest to me. Actually my first piano teacher even kicked me out of her class because of this fact. She said that I was waisting her time. Honestly, her statement pretty much devastated me. I felt totally dejected. But now that I have an adult perspective, she may have lacked tact and I definitely wouldn't send my own child to her, but she was right. I wasn't committed to playing the piano and was totally waisting her time.

Today in my office was a newly married couple. They came in to add wifey to hubster's account. As wifey started to fill out the paperwork, she kinda freaked out a bit saying, "I don't want to do this. I really don't want to do this." She repeated herself several times even mentioned the fact that she was freaking out and felt nauseous of the whole idea of her name being added to his account. In her eyes, a financial commitment was a bigger deal than a life commitment. As they walked out of my office and out the door without adding her name to hubster's account, I laughed. Actually, I cracked up and repeated the story several times to co-workers. I was shocked by her skewed outlook on marriage and finances. I don't know wifey's life story. I don't know what caused her to see financial issues in such peril. Maybe she had the same piano teacher who didn't like her lack of commitment. I don't know.

One thing I do know is that wifey got me thinking about commitment. What areas of our life do we put our whole heart into? What areas do we become lax in? And why is it that way? What caused us to find more importance in wealth, stuff, friends, and jobs and less importance in Christ and His call to a different kind of commitment. It's a daily struggle.

So today, I take up my cross, and I choose to follow Him. I choose for Christ to be my #1 commitment. I just pray that as tomorrow's struggles and commitments come to fruition, I can do it again...and again...and again.