Sharpening Your Saw: Spirit, Mind, Heart, Soul, & Body
“I Choose Joy” is the final blog post of the “Sharpening your Saw” summer series.
A few weeks ago, I sat in a circle with four fellow seminarians. Each of us had to share a part of our faith story. When my turn came, I said, “I’m living in perpetual joy.” A joy I don’t talk about often because most people cannot understand this place, I’m in. Sometimes I, myself, don’t understand this place, I’m in. I choose not to express my perpetual joy to safeguard the naysayers and melancholy spirits. I’m living in perpetual joy on purpose, intentionally. I’m sharpening my spirit of joy. Therefore, I choose joy.
The human spirit is our emotions, thoughts, and feelings. For example, I feel joy and peace because I have stopped creating a mile-long to-do list. I think about being joyful because those thoughts make me smile. When I am smiling, I take myself not so seriously. Instead of looking at the glass half empty, I choose to see it half full. I choose joy. If I choose joy, I cannot have a spirit of gloom and doom.
The human spirit is our temperament, our attitude, our outlook on life. Last year, upon coming to the seminary my outlook was not so good. Everything around me was changing, and folks were messing with my faith and my Jesus. One morning, October 16 to be exact, I awoke and realized I was tired of my attitude. Seemed as though the place in my life was a pit of doom and gloom. So, I chose joy. Lord, help me to have joy. A perpetual joy that sustains me. And that perpetual joy came with an attitude shift. I choose joy, intentionally, despite the naysayers and melancholy spirits I encountered.
The human spirit is the seat of the mind. The spirit of you or me can be crushed (Psalm 34:18), impaired, diminished. The human spirit can be renewed and developed. The human spirit can choose joy if we make it a habit.
For me, that means I choose not to complain. Not to grumble. I choose to encourage others and pray earnestly for them. With so much tragedy in the world, I don’t want to live my life wallowing in worldly sorrows and horrors. I choose joy. With so much pain and angst. I choose joy. My joy is not dismissive or smothered by injustice and inequity. My joy is in Jesus. My joy originates from confidence in God, God-confidence. In the words of the bible-teacher and author Kim Cash Tate, my joy comes because I “cling” to God. I hold onto God, cleave, stick to God.
In the New Testament, James encourages, us not to “run from tests and hardships, but to see it as an invaluable opportunity to experience the greatest joy that you can!” (1:2-4).
So, choose joy. I choose joy. Yes, it’s a habit. It is not always easy to choose joy. But I’m sharpening my mind, my body, my heart and my soul, the very core of me, myself, and I to choose joy.
Won’t you, too, choose joy?
Until next time,
Angela
Excellent choice.
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