a day of joy.

Today is such a great day.  Wednesday.  April 11th, 2012.  A day with purpose.  A time with purpose.  We have been called to greatness and JOY on this day.  Believe it with me?  Well keep reading, hopefully you'll be encouraged and be a believer in the joy that you've been called to this day.  So today I had a really big choice.  It was presented to me the second I woke up.  My choice was between joy and frustration and my decision was to set the course of the entire day.  You see, I woke up, and in normal fashion, got in the shower.  About 5 minutes into that process, while still soapy and with conditioner in my hair, my water cut off.  It didn't come on the rest of the morning.  My choice today was joy.  I chose joy despite coming to work with overly conditioned hair and my day has already been so blessed.  And you want to know something?  Who cares what my hair looks/feels like?  Nobody.  My assignment on this day is to spread the joy that I've chosen, and I'm doing it.

After devotions this morning, I turned to my right and found a woman that I've never met before.  I asked her if she'd like to pray and her response shook me to the core:  "Sure I'll pray with you," she said, "but I don't pray out loud."  Now normally I might have had a response that reflected how awkward I felt in that moment.  All kinds of thoughts about us working at a ministry and having to sign on paper an agreement to be encouraging and faith filled employees filled my mind.  BUT, my response was different because my choice of joy was early this morning.  I simply said to her "that's no problem, I'll just pray for us both."  I got back in my car and was in tears over the many times (I'm sure) that my reaction to Jesus' requests had been the same as that woman's reaction to my request this morning. How many times had I been intentionally unwilling to praise the Lord for his goodness and faithfulness?  How many times had I not even realized it?  I am humbled thinking that though her reaction was bold and outspoken, my reaction, albeit private, has been just the same many times.  I asked for forgiveness and moved forward with my intentions to seek and spread joy on this day.

I'm reminded of a pastor that I once heard talk about a condition called "face blindness".  How this condition affects the people who have it is that they have no problem seeing ordinary objects and things, but they cannot remember or retain the memory to recognize faces, even of those that they have known their entire lives.  Think of it as a perpetual, life-long, Alzheimer's.  But what if we, as followers of Christ, have experienced our own, intentional, face blindness?  What if we have seen the face of Jesus and forgotten (or blocked on purpose) what he looks like, therefore not giving him credit and praise for the wonderful things He's done?  What if we had forgotten that the face that is to be credited for all of the favor we walk in is the same face that hung on a cross and died for the remission of our sins? 

Here's the thing:  I praise the Lord that I have a shower to bathe in daily, and that I have no problem praising him publicly and that I have the ability to see and retain faces in my memory.  But spiritually, there's a whole different side of me that I hadn't recognized until today.  That's the unclean, timid and shy, forgetful side.  The side of me that has no recollection of all the great things God's done for me.  And then I remember:  I'm forgiven, that other side of me no longer exists.  I don't suffer from face blindness, I rejoice in the truth of knowing I serve a Savior who not only died so that I might live, but LIVES and rejoices with my victories.  I'm so thankful that THAT's my King.

Friends, today is your day to spread joy.  It's your day to be thankful, even though things might not be perfect.  It's your day to rejoice because you're free while others are oppressed.  It's your day to encourage someone, even someone who is extremely hard to talk to.  Today is the day.  No one's stopping you but you.  Take advantage of the next 14.5 hours to make a difference for the kingdom.  Oh, and most importantly:  be encouraged, there is power in the name of Jesus.