I Will Choose to Rejoice
The last few posts have discussed the word I feel God wants me to focus on during 2023: RECEIVE, as well as three other “R” words that resonated during the process of landing on the “just-right” word: Respect, Restraint, and Rejoice. I’ve discussed Respect and Restraint recently, and today, will say a bit about Rejoice.
While pondering these words, I have returned often to Philippians, the short letter in the New Testament Paul wrote from prison to his friends in Philippi. As I said earlier, this was a very difficult season for Christians. Many were being persecuted for their belief in Jesus.
Despite these dire circumstances, toward the conclusion of his letter, Paul tells his friends to: Rejoice in the Lord always. In fact, he feels this is so important that he repeats himself: I will say it again: Rejoice! (Philippians 4:4 NIV)
While writing this post, I tried to set up a new app on my phone. It wasn’t working the way Ron and I thought it should. My feelings of inadequacy led to confusion, frustration, and snappy responses to Ron’s perfectly legitimate questions. Finally, he said “We’ll figure this out tomorrow!”
Returning to my office, I re-read Paul’s words and was reminded, oh, yeah, it’s easy to talk about “rejoicing” when all is going well but what about when life’s circumstances are annoying, perplexing, or right down scary?
I realized when Paul wrote this letter from prison, he wasn’t rejoicing about being shackled 24/7 to a Roman guard. He wasn’t minimizing the real danger his friends were experiencing. What I believe he was trying to convey is that even when situations seem—or are—out of my control, I can still choose to rejoice in God’s goodness and ability to weave every circumstance together for an eternally good purpose.
I know my annoyance with technology pales in comparison to what Paul and the Philippians were experiencing, but I believed today’s irritation presented an opportunity to practice my 2023 theme. So, first I choose to RECEIVE this lesson my soul needs to learn.
I will RESPECT the process of awareness and growth, which I understand occurs slowly—one small step at a time.
I will recognize behavioral tendencies that lead to lack of RESTRAINT when I am unable to control difficult circumstances. I will explore and incorporate lifegiving responses rather than reverting to familiar negative reactions.
I will form the holy habit of practicing Philippians 4:8-9, meditating on what is true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; finding things to praise rather than things to curse.
Finally, I will choose to REJOICE in the Lord! Like Paul, I probably will need to instruct myself to do this more than once!
Blessings as we consider our choice to REJOICE!
