Choosing joy...

I'll be honest with you.  Being a stay-at-home homeschooling wife and mother is the most challenging thing I've every done.  From the time I rise, until the time I lay down at night the "have-to's"  out-weigh the "want-to's" by about 100:1.  There are meals to make, diapers and clothing to wash, dishes to unload, children to teach, discipline to be handed out, training to be done, arguments to break up, relationships to mend, errands to run, appointments to keep, and on and on.  There is someone requiring my attention every minute of the day.

It is increasingly necessary for me to always be checking my attitude.  My attitude will carry over directly to the attitudes of the children and my husband.  The countenance of a home is dependent on that of the one who manages it (that's me). What a great responsibility!!  I've noticed that if the children are particularly cranky, a little joy on my part can turn the whole day around.  Consider these verses:

"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up bones."  Proverbs 17:22

"A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit."  Proverbs 15:13

"All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast."  Prov. 15:15

When I choose joy, despite what my emotions are telling me, it lifts my spirits and the spirits of those around me.  When I choose joy, it makes me more beautiful to my husband.  When I choose joy, I am being obedient to the Lord to be thankful in all circumstances.

Now, choosing joy isn't the natural thing to for us as humans to do, therefore it is not easy.  It is a learning process that has to be practiced over and over again, by faith.  The first step is most definitely thankfulness.  When you practice being thankful for the mundane things of life, you become content.  When you are content where and with whom God has you presently, it produces the ability to become joyful.

Joy is a choice that has to be made each day.  But we cannot do it on our own. When you walk in the Spirit, in obedience to the Lord, choosing joy can, with practice, become part of who you are.  When it is part of who you are, it becomes the countenance of your home, your husband, and your children.

PRACTICE CHOOSING JOY!!!