No doubt, tidying up the external definitely makes us feel a lot better, at least for the short term. However, where does lasting joy come from?
Two years ago on a wonderful Disney World vacation, I realized that I was seeking joy in the wrong place. We had experienced two wonderful days at Disney, and I returned to the hotel on Day 2 ready to take on our mid-trip laundry pile. I grabbed up all of our new clothes for the trip and even a couple of special quilts that had experienced some "trauma" on the trip for one large laundry load. All was well and good, I was on top of the world and on top of things in general... until I went to pull the load from the dryer. Hark! The boy child had left crayons in his pocket which melted over everything in a spectacular display. What quickly followed were Google searches, pleas for tips on social media, and my sainted husband making a late night trip to the local Wal-Mart for a bevy of supplies. I spent a large portion of the night and early morning hours donning rubber gloves and trying a variety of stain busting methods that involved the hotel room bathtub filled multiple times with hot water and LOTS of trips to the hotel laundry room.
I felt angry, cheated, underappreciated, foolish for not checking pockets, embarrassed, and generally distraught. I carried those feelings into Day 3 and unfortunately shared those angry feelings with the ones I love most.
Then it hit me - I had been taking joy in THINGS.
All things are perishable and destined to become dust. The Bible tells us to take our joy in the Lord. How much easier is it for the Devil to steal our joy when we put it in things, experiences, and people???
Those new clothes were destined for the trash bin at some point. That point just came a LOT sooner than I expected.
We can let such things destroy us, or we can take our joy in the imperishable, ETERNAL God. Which do you choose?
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