Choosing Joy in a Joyless World
This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24
I got a chuckle this week out of the story of two farmers. The one farmer was continually optimistic and upbeat. Ironically, his neighbor was just the opposite. Grim and gloomy, he faced each new morning with a scowl.
The positive farmer would see the sun come up and he’d shout over the roar of the tractor, “Look at that beautiful sun and clear sky!” And, with a frown, his negative neighbor would reply, “Yeah – it’ll probably scorch the crops.”
When clouds would gather and much-needed rain would fall, the positive farmer would call from across the fence, “Ain’t this great? God is giving our corn a drink today.” Again, old Gloomy Gus would see the downside: “It’ll probably flood and wash everything away.”
One day, the optimist decided to put his neighbor to the test. He bought the smartest, most expensive bird dog he could find. He trained him to do things no other dog on earth could do – impossible feats that would surely astound anyone.
Then he invited the pessimist to go duck hunting with him. They sat there in the boat, hidden by the duck blind. In came the ducks, and both men fired: “BLAM! BLAM!” Several ducks fell into the water.
“Go get ‘em, Pooch!” ordered the owner with a gleam in his eye. The dog leaped out of the boat, WALKED ON WATER, and picked up the birds one by one.
“Well, what do you think about that?” the optimist said with a smile. Grim-faced, the pessimist answered, “Can’t swim, can he?”
THIS is the Day
For those of you who can all too easily identify with Mr. Negative, let me challenge you with a great verse. Psalm 118:24 says: “This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
When are you to practice joy? In this day. The psalmist doesn't say, “Tomorrow is God's day” or “Yesterday was God's day.” What’s he say? “THIS is the day.”
He says that, I think, partly because we live in a world that has embraced the illusion that “I'll be a joyful person someday, when the conditions in my life change, when things get better.”
So, people in school think, “I'll be happy someday when I get out of here and can get a job.” And people who have jobs think, “I’d be so happy if I could go back to school.”
Some people who are single think, “I'll be happy when I get married.” And some who are married who think, “I’d be happy if only I were single.”
Some think, “I’d be so happy if we had kids running through the house,” while others think, “I’ll be so happy when we don’t have kids running through the house.”
If you look for it hard enough, there will always be a reason for not having joy. But the psalmist says, “This is the day God has made.” If you're going to be joyful, it must be today. So, choose it!
Joy is the gigantic secret of the Christian, and it needs to be shared with a joyless world.
One More Story
It’s like the old story of a man who was strolling through a social club and came across a table where three guys and a dog were playing cards. Pausing to watch, he asked, “Can that dog really play cards?”
“Yeah, he can,” answered one of the men.
“That’s incredible!” the onlooker said.
“Ah…not really,” another member shrugged. He’s not really that good. Whenever he gets a good hand, he wags his tail.”
Friends, you and I are holding a good hand! It’s time we began to wag our tails.
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