Posts Tagged ‘joy’

Enjoy!

April 18th, 2012

I saw this hilarious t-shirt yesterday and figured it was worth sharing on this Wednesday.

That’s right – Remember to enjoy ( and be thankful for) the little things in life!  Even Protons!  And people, and water, and electricity, and bees, and automatic windows on your car, and a nice chair in your office, and a roof, and the list goes on.

18 Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Ecclesiastes 5:18 English Standard Version (ESV)

Happy Leap Day

February 29th, 2012

Wow, This is definitely one day I have not blogged about. Since this blog started in 2009, it was not around the last time this crazy mathematical correcting day came around.  So let me say it

Happy Leap Day!

 7 The LORD is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy,
and with my song I praise him. Psalm 28:7 New International Version (NIV)

I still remember 3 leaps days back when my youngest was arriving.  I so wanted him to be born on February 29.  I mean instead of almost becoming a teenager, he would only be celebrating his third birthday today!  Alas, his mother had other plans.

So what does it mean?

I dunno, I guess it means you get one extra day to find a way to help others and bring glory to your creator this year.  You also get one extra day to focus on your one word for the year, and you get one last-ditch day in February to complete any monthly goals you had for yourself!  Bonus!  Thank you Julius Caesar!

So today I will be glad to have the extra day and I try to make it count.

12 Teach us to number our days,    that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Ps 90:12 NIV

et tu?

 

 

So Pumped

January 5th, 2012

I am so stoked today I can’t hardly stand it.  As most of you know, I am a huge WVU fan.  And West Virginia ended up the Orange Bowl last night with a pretty impressive victory over the Clemson Tigers.  My excitement is to such an extend that I could barely sleep last night and I can’t hardly stop myself from posting on Facebook!!!

Pretty ridiculous really, That much joy from watching 20 year old kids play a game?  Especially when you consider that all I did was sit on my couch in my climate controlled room watching the game on my High Definition big screen TV.  I didn’t practice, I didn’t call a play, I didn’t run a play.  All I did was claim that team as my own and cheer away – and believe. (Although, I can say I was pretty nervous in the first quarter!)

And yet, the joy overflows this morning!  I wonder if it will last past the time I walk through the office doors!

Wow, sort of reminds me of something else.  Something else that I did absolutely nothing to attain, except to believe.  Something that was done for me, for free.  Something I didn’t ask for, but has been given.

 9-11Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we’re at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah! (Romans 5:9-11 MSG)

 

Double Joy!  Maybe even Triple Joy!

And this joy is unstoppable.

So in reality the effects of this game will wear off – and the old Mountaineers will lose again sometime in the future(maybe), but the true joy that comes from the Messiah, the Christ is there forever.

Pretty sweet uh!

Influence and Others

November 21st, 2011

Last weekend I saw this quote from Andy Stanley, which I just loved. I actually shared it with several people last week and even posted it on my office wall. To me it optimizes how followers of the Christ should live- also looking out for the best in others and always trying to make others better.

How can you leverage your power and influence to make others successful?

Now if I could just live that way!

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. (Hebrews 3:13 NIV)

Ode To Busyness

August 22nd, 2011

I feel like my life has been shot out of a cannon since school has started.  Over the last two weeks it’s been a combination of new practices, new routines, school meetings, and over various events that eat up the calendar from sun up until sun down.  The lazy days of summer ended in such incredible fashion that the memory of those days in only re-callable with pictures!  And it seems to be set to continue like this for some time.

This weekend I have been thinking about these weeks ahead and the ‘business’ that they are filled with and have decided to not be stressed by it.  There are so many positive things about to happen as our children discover their own strengths and weaknesses.  I can’t imagine the amount of memories that I will gather as a parent observing and challenging those guys. Maybe I am a little crazy, but I have decided that this busyness is life. Oh, sure some of it can be reduced, and lots of it can be managed.  But instead of ‘just getting through it’ or trying to find another way, I am going to try to embrace it head on.  (This may be the biggest mistake of my life!).

I am starting to think that the things we do each day are not barriers to us living life, but actually are us living life.  So today, on this Monday morning the beginning of a week with a schedule that is quite full, I am rejoicing.  Not because I am ‘busy’, for there is not doubt I would rather be laying on beach somewhere, but because I am starting a a day that is a gift from the Lord and the number of opportunities that lay ahead of me in this busyness are enormous.

So off I go, rejoicing ( I hope I can make it past 10am!!!)

 4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Philippians 4:4 New International Version (NIV)