About two months ago, my pastor Pete Wilson talked about joy. Since then, I haven't been able to get his words out of my head.
Choose joy.
Choose joy.
Choose joy.
When I am frustrated about something, I hear the whisper of the Lord, choose joy, my child. Don't let this silly thing steal your joy.
The root of my frustration usually stems from me doing too much. I am the type of personality that likes to be busy. I do a lot. I write a lot of lists. I oftentimes over-commit, and excitement about a new project can turn to overwhelming dread when I evaluate all that is on my plate.
Can you relate? Surely I'm not the only woman who juggles way too much.
In the same sermon about joy, Pete said, "everybody has treasures. Your treasures shape you. You'll become like what you idol."
What are my treasures? What do I idol?
Busyness.
Achievement.
Juggling too much – and appearing to do it "well"
<gulp>
Am I choosing joy? Not when these are my treasures. The joy they bring is temporary.
These are not what I want my treasures to be, but if I look honestly at my life, I can't deny their presence. And they are stealing the joy of the Lord that is inside of me.
What Pete said next really hit close to home.
"If you are worshiping something other than God you will be chronically disappointed. When you are living in a healthy rhythm, you will treasure more."
We are in month three of a new decade, and I am striving to choose joy and live in a healthy rhythm of loving God and growing closer to Him.
Am I still busy?
Yes.
But I am trying to not let that busyness interrupt the healthy rhythm I want to live.
I'm choosing joy.
What are your treasures? What interrupts your rhythm?
by Jessica Turner, The Mom Creative
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Beautifully said, Jessica! I love how you express the importance of “living in a healthy rhythm of loving God”. When we do that and set our hearts to treasure Him, we can’t help but grow closer to Him!
How many times have I been caught up in the busyness of life? At 35, I can FINALLY say that I have gotten very good at saying, “NO!” to too many activities. Whether it’s the kids’ extra curricular activities or my own church/school volunteering, we/I say “yes” to just a few. Nothing steals my joy faster than an overbooked schedule. Nothing breaks our family’s rhythm faster than an overbooked schedule. With a slower one, I feel God’s presence breathing more life into our lives!
Awesome post! Have a great weekend! 🙂
“If you are worshiping something other than God you will be chronically disappointed.” Yes, and carrying all that disappointment around for a lifetime is completely exhausting.
It is good to find out what’s at the root of what’s driving us. Good post!
Jessica this is so true and so beautifully shared. Lately I’m letting a million silly things steal my joy – and I needed this reminder today, this week, this month, this season! Megan @ SortaCrunchy has been working on a serious of posts about finding joy and they’ve been very inspiring to me as well. Our world is so full of busyness and worry and skewed priorities and just the noise of everything NOT joyful, I’m thankful for blogging sisters to redirect my sights to the truly important, everlasting stuff of this life that never fails to bring joy and peace amidst it all.
Thank you so much for this post. I spend most of my time worrying about making the wrong choices, not doing enough, trusting the wrong people… I am typically such a joyful person and I have lost that in recent months.
I so long to choose joy. Thank you for putting this in the forefront of my mind today.
This really spoke to me. Thanks so much for sharing transparently.
You always take my stuff and make it so much better. I think you should start writing the messages. 🙂 Great post Jessica.
Jessica,
This is great and oh, so true.
Lovely post. Today our pastor spoke on how we can attach ourselves so much to the things of this world that can cause worry and stress, and, like you say, squash our joy. I too, can get caught up in a life of things that really are less about love and more about the stuff of life. And I’m sometimes driven by fear, and now am reminded that fear means I am feeling that what I have is not enough. Thank you for reminding me to ask the question: Am I working with God at the centre and creating the joyful life he wants of me?
Couldn’t agree more… it’s all about our focus. I used to think that I need to look to find the joy in situations, but I learned that if I just focus on any joy… even the simplest ones like Riley snuggling next to me, finding the positive or the joy in the tough things doesn’t really matter. It’s about embracing it wherever we can find it and keeping ourselves there.
I’ve also learned that takes work sometimes 🙂
i so badly want to live according to the rhythms of His grace, but so quickly get caught up in my own fast tempo… thank you for the reminder to choose joy in each moment.
You don’t know how much I relate. While reading your column i made a quick list of the things that i have going on in my life right now…3 jobs, 4 personal projects, my family (mother, husband and 2 kids) and at last i left my spiritual life…that made me sad. sometimes i feel i’m trapped (not joyful) about my own dreams. It’s like i can’t get the right proportions of time, devotion, effort, interest… I’m always running, tired, sometimes mad and frustrated but mostly unsatisfied, thinking i can, i should always do a little more… anyway, thanks for giving me reasons to stop and reflect on that.