Thursday's Thoughts: Intentional Joy

Thursday's Thoughts: a taste of what I'm thinking

Here I go thinking out loud again, bare with me as these thoughts are more than a little scattered.  My mind has been going nonstop lately and it's not until I stop to write that I realize how jumbled and tangled my train of thoughts really is.  So yeah, real life.  Where to start?  I'll just pick a thought string and we can start to untangle it a little.  Ready?

 The past few days I've noticed myself plodding through day to day tasks without much energy.  Along with a more regular sleep pattern, it's time for an attitude adjustment.  My joy has been missing, but I won't find it unless I look for it.  If I'm not intentional I miss what's right in front of my nose.  Will I move from task to task just trying to get through the day, or will I view each task as an opportunity and a challenge?  A sense of excitement, wonder and curiosity adds a fresh burst of energy to pick up the pace.

I must pause and look for God in the little things.  If I'm not intentional about this, it is all too easily lost, buried in my heaping tangle of thoughts.  I can't expect life-altering, earth-shattering moments each day, but I can choose to search out and look for God's presence in the simple day to day.  I know it's there, but if I want to see it I need to open my eyes and look, not just glance and gloss over life as if skimming a lengthy textbook.  So what are some specific examples I can see today, right now?

Today, I woke up with more health than sickness, a statement many people can not make.  I hear the clock ticking or see the numbers all to rapidly creeping forward, yet I have the eyes to see those tiny numbers and ears to hear the quiet tick.  Waking up means I have slept, I've slept in a warm bed full of blankets, not huddled in a box under a bridge.  I have a post to write, but I also have a computer, fingers that type and a brain quite capable of thinking.  I have lists to do, but they have been written with a hand that knows how to write and eyes that know how to read.  They are scribbled on cute paper given by a thoughtful friend.  The tasks on my list are not really tasks, but items of opportunity.  How will I look for God in each moment?  Will I adjust my attitude to one of thanks and joy, praising him for every opportunity, or will I be buried in piles, lists and anxious thoughts?  My plodding turns to prancing when I choose to open my eyes, to pause and be intentional with my perspective.

Food for Thought: "Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are my God and Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." -Psalm 25:5