Joy To Your World: The Choice Of Joy

If you were to list the things that steal your joy what would
they be? Many of would say things like money, or the way others
treat us, or maybe life not being fair. But in those answers we
find a common factor. Our joy is often "stolen" when we are most
concerned with the things that affect our lives. When things
don't go how we intended, we feel that we have the right to be
upset and be joyless. If we're honest, we all want our own way.
We all want our lives to be smooth and comfortable and anything
that threatens that can easily steal our joy and become the
enemy. But what if our self-centeredness is the very thing that
is preventing us from having unwavering joy in life. In this
week's teaching, we talk about how the way to find continuous joy
might be found in choosing to abandon getting our way and
instead, have a tender heart towards God and compassionate
towards those around us.