Joy

It struck me (more forcefully than usual) the other day that I have the awful habit of strongly overreacting when "bad" things happen to me.  I can be instantly transformed into an extremely negative person, bringing down myself and those around me.  It happened very quickly.  I was backing away from a bookshelf when my ankle struck the CD player on the floor behind me.  Ultimately, there were a few moments of moderate pain and a trickle of blood, but at that moment, I became furious.  I quickly reflected and realized that I tend to respond to unexpected things without the least bit of thought about how it is appropriate to respond.  A few seconds' thought after my explosion of pain and indignation made me recall that I had just been offered a long awaited, long prayed-for teaching job, that God was continuing his faithfulness and providence to Caitlin and me, and that it would have been much better to be thankful that I hadn't broken my ankle.

Later that evening, I read through Philippians, which I understand Paul to have written while he was imprisoned for preaching the gospel.  I was ashamed to find that in those four short chapters, Paul, in much more dire circumstances than I've ever experienced, uses some form of the word 'joy' or 'rejoice' 14 times!  Here was a person that was joyful in God through the Holy Spirit, rather than focusing on momentary circumstantial hardships.

I'll pray the prayer that Paul states at the beginning of his letter to the Philippians, keeping in mind that 'joy' is one of the fruits of the Spirit: "I pray that [our] love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that [we] may be able to discern what is best, and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God."