I've got the joy, joy, joy down in my heart?

As I read back through some of my previous post, I have noticed something. It seems that I tend to go on and on about my troubles. I go on about how crazy things happen in my life and how things sometimes seem to go wrong. I go on and on about going on and on. So today I am taking a day off of complaining and self pity. Today (and hopefully from here on out), I am going to take ten minutes each day to simply be joyful (and thankful) about my life and the things that God has done in my life. I did my first ten minutes this morning and it was awesome.

Here's the deal, too often I (maybe you, maybe not you), spend a ton of time telling everone who is in ear shot about what a mess my life is and about the latest cotastrophe at the Ponchot house. Truth is, bad things do happen but how it affects us is what's important. Does it throw us into some kind of depression, a week of feeling sorry for ourselves, an ice cream eating frenzy, or do we simply see it as part of living this life on earth and that our troubles really pale in comparison to the good things in our life. Where is our joy? Where is my joy?

This morning in my Bible study I looked at a passage in 1 Peter 1:3ish (message)-"What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven-and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The day is coming when you'll have it all, a life healed and whole. I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine." Why is it that some christians are so negative about life when christians should in reality be the happiest people on the planet? We have this defeatest attitude like we are always under the gun and that we are these "poor little Christians". We forget who won the battle. Jesus took care of that a long time ago. I think that what it boils down to (at least for me) is that I sometimes misplace my joy . I simply lose it. I put too much thought into my every day, messy, life when I should be jumping for joy at what God has done for me. I am going to make every effort to keep the ten minute thing going. I think I'm going to like being happy more.
d.e.p.