The Intricacies and Musings of a Madman

Last Monday, the church held a staff retreat at Sharptop Cove up in Jasper, Georgia. As you can see, I brought my drone. Fantastic place to fly.

Anyway, we had a devotion about making the most of our joy in Christ. And I’ve got to give credit where it’s due: I didn’t come up with this. I’m really just reiterating what I learned. But it’s too good to keep to myself, believe me.

I’ll be honest about something else, too. I haven’t experienced much joy in a long time. I can’t sit here and tell you it’s been a hard summer, because it hasn’t. Actually, all things considered, it’s been a great summer. It’s just that I’ve fallen into some bad habits, and it’s taken a toll on my quality of life. I’ve allowed things – stupid things – to rob me of my joy.

I certainly subscribe to the philosophy that Christians can choose to have joy. If we choose to take certain steps, we can enable ourselves to have a good attitude. And of course it follows that, as Christians, we can always find joy in Christ if we try(something I haven’t done often lately).

So, what can one do to experience joy? Well, onething you can do is recognize things and experiences that help you notice God’s presence. For me (I made a list), those things include:

• Having coffee in the morning
• Helping my dad at his farm
• Walking through the woods and taking pictures
• Getting lunch with my mom
• Meaningful, peaceful, thoughtful conversations
• Reading a good book
• Writing
• Spending time with my family at Hillcrest (our farm in Virginia) or Rockwood (my dad’s farm in Georgia)
• The atmosphere of Thanksgiving and Christmas

I know the list made me look like a softie, but hear me on this: Those are a few of the things that help me notice God’s presence, and they bring me tremendous joy. Joy not merely because they’re enjoyable, but also because they add perspective and awareness of God’s presence. When it comes to the believer, a calm mind is a mind that’s open to the Holy Spirit.

But what about things that rob me of joy? Most of those involve me sinning or dwelling on something negative. I made a list of those too:

• Watching too many YouTube videos: I was in the habit of spending hours each day watching political videos or videos of cops arresting “sovereign citizens” or people getting into fights. It’s entertaining, but it poisons the soul. I ended up just deleting the YouTube app from my phone because I couldn’t keep myself from opening it.
• Being late: Sometimes I’m late, and it frustrates me to death.
• Spending too much time playing with my phone: Seriously, no lie. I’ve gone to family gatherings and ruined my experience because I spent the whole time looking at my phone. Complaining about it sounds like something an old person would say – I know. But believe me. When you spend too much time on your phone, you miss everything. You might as well not even be there because your mind isn’t. A lot of what you miss is sacred, and you’ll never get it back.
• Skipping my quiet time or church: If you’re not being fed, not only will you not grow as a Christian, but you’ll actually shrink. And that was definitely my situation this summer.

My list was actually longer than that, but you get the idea. Make changes that’ll help you focus on the Lord, and be filled with joy!

As a Christian, I want people to recognize the uniqueness of my relationship with Christ. Lately, I know that hasn’t been the case, and I’m so sorry for it. But now that my joy has been restored, I’m confident that brighter days are on the horizon.