Joy

Today didn’t begin well. Mondays are never my favorite day of the week; the beginning of the work week and the weekend so far away. And this morning, I woke up earlier than usual, but from an unpleasant dream, in which I had already woken up to mayhem and unpleasantness. No clothes found suitable to be worn to work and fighting siblings at the unearthly hour of 5:30 AM. Or so I dreamt. I awoke and lay there for a full five minutes, trying to decide if my dream was real or not.

It was not a pleasant way to begin the day and I couldn’t help feeling gloomy towards the world as I rummaged through my clothes to find something to wear to work, as I ate breakfast and made that last mad dash around the house to get everything I need for work ready.

And was nearly late punching in.

I worked for eight hours, came home with a headache and a scratchy throat, and sat down to tackle homework. More inclined to be grumpy and not at all willing to play Nice Girl, I gave a neighbor boy a look of doom when I discovered that he was annoying my middle sister. I ate supper, I texted, I worked on my homework and remembered a million and one things that should be done and won’t be before bed tonight – because I am so very, very tired.

But this blog post must be written first.

Today wasn’t a horrible, no-good, bad day, like the one in the children’s book; it was just plain out, ordinary, busy and…full of things that needed to be done, as much as I didn’t want to do them.

That’s life, at least in the adult world. We rise early when we’d rather sleep in. We go to work when we’d rather play. We bite our tongues, when people are cranky in the workplace and when our boss piles another thing to do in our in-box, or when our littlest sister is whining for the umpteenth time. We do what must be done because it has to be done and that’s life.

But we are Christians. There’s got to be something different. There has to be.

The one thing missing from my day?

Joy.

Joy doesn’t always mean happiness. Joy means rejoicing, in spite of all circumstances. Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice.

Take a moment. Breathe. Thank God for your day, ordinary or horrible-no-good-bad or brilliant-sky-blue-wonderful. Thank Him. Rejoice in what He has given you. Take joy in His strength and rejoice.

Always.

Tomorrow is Tuesday. That’s part of Always and I’m going to at least try to get up rejoicing tomorrow morning.