Philippians 4:1-9

My daughter read her composition to me. I was astounded by her wisdom and realized that she had already experienced the hard side of life too. Life out there is not easy:

The longest journey that we as humans will have to face on earth is our life journey.

Life is a journey filled with impressions, some the conversations with and the words of other people, others of tourist attractions and world adventures, and some of close friendships and relationships. These impressions make us the persons each of us are today. Some of the impressions affect us so deeply that they become the foundation of our moral values and ethical standards.

Our rollercoaster and long-awaited journey started from the day we first breathed Mother Earth’s oxygen. Some days we can hardly see a mile ahead, other days we stumble over rocks, and other days we run full speed ahead with the wind at our backs.

Each new day is put in front of our doors like a gift. Every gift looks different day after day and every day fills the long journey portraying our life. It is our choice what we want to do with that gift.

On some days there are very dark clouds and it seems as if a hail storm is coming. There are rocks in your way, the road twists and turns, obscuring the finish line. The stones and thorns hurt your feet. There’s thunder and lightning and no sign of even a small ray of sunshine. As your legs turn weak, the sweat runs down your forehead, your throat burns from exhaustion, you eventually reach the the top of the hill, and you see the well-deserved view.

You have to work for every beautiful view. The sun is shining all over and the view is appreciated so much more. Sometimes when you just want to take a break, rest on top of the hill and appreciate the beautiful view, the next day dawns. That day can last 24 hours, three months or even twelve years.

We have no control over what our “weather forecast” for each day will be, but can control how we deal with it and what choices we make very day. We can even decide to try and run full out in the hail storms, to fall, quickly get up again, and to learn from our mistakes.

The gift we open every day is pieces of the puzzle that portrays our life journey, on the sunshine days and also in the hail storms.

It is my and your choice how we will deal with all that life throws at us. We can sit in sackcloth and ash or we can deal with it as best we can and look for happiness somewhere else.

Try for the last option. Even with rocks in our way, even though lightning and thunder are crashing around us, let’s find our happiness in the Lord: 4 Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him!

Reflection

What are you worried about?

Who or what is stealing your joy?

How do you get your joy back?

Prayer

Our Father in Heaven, let’s be straight with one another: Every day is not rose-coloured and we struggle to find our joy. We know we have to get it from You, but … Amen.