“…The joy that is missing, that you want to have will come from thanking God for what you do have, don’t worry about thanking Him for what you don’t have yet.”
These words have been running through my mind. Joy is truly something I want more of. I’m generally at peace with my life and when I’m not – I fight to regain peace. But I have to admit – Joy comes in spurts. If I need a shift of perspective and the result is more joy, bring it on.
The first part of the statement that I really started pondering was where this person said, “don’t worry about thanking Him for what you don’t have yet.” It wasn’t a reprimand. In my life, part of building my faith has been recognizing that God keeps His promises, that He is trustworthy, and that He is good. As Father, Provider, Comforter, and Healer – when I have needs or wants I go to Him and ask. As hope sprouts up in my life – the hope that He actually wants to take care of my future – then faith is established that He will take care of all that pertains to me. In that, I thank Him for the things that I don’t see yet in my life, based on His character and the assurance of His great love for me.
The thing is, I get really focused on the things that I feel are lacking in my life today. When I feel like God needs to be reminded that I haven’t gotten my promise yet, I’ll thank Him nicely, in advance, for what He’s going to do for me. Then I start imagining all the ways He’s going to do it. It’s not a bad past time – but it still causes me to spend a lot (or most) of my time thinking about what is to come. In the meantime, I missing out on what is here today.
When I start thinking about what’s not in my life – yet, I’ve discovered that I really spend a lot of time in an imaginary world (that’s for a later post). I’ve been missing the real live miracle of today.
So, I’ve been trying to stop thinking about what I don’t have. This has been freeing up a lot of my thinking time. As I’ve been determined to look at what I do have, I’m even more impressed with how good my life is. I’m more grateful for how well God is taking care of me today. I see that He knows what I really need way better than I do. I don’t deserve this favor – but I’m thankful for it. In light of the miracle of today, I see something else forming in my life that wasn’t there a couple of months ago….Joy.