Joyless Living

" All the joy is gone from our hearts . Our dances have turned into dirges ."
Lamentations 5:15

Dirges mean funeral songs . How many of you can relate to that verse ? I know I can . You're doing your thing . You're happy . Everything is just fine and then  . . . . You encounter that one thing you're struggling with all the time . BAM ! Your Joy has been stolen from you .

For me , it's my work life . I don't know how to be a duck and let the garbage slide off me concerning two people . I allow  them to continually upset me , instead of shrugging things off . I am a human being and things hurt .

I think one of the problems happen to be me . Yes me . I have changed alot spiritually , especially in the past six years . Who wouldn't ? Chronic illness like cancer is a major thing in one's life .
I've changed , they haven't . I've made a commitment to God to live a certain way , they haven 't . As a believer , working in a secular world can be quite an adjustment .

First step equals admitting there is a problem . Second step equals looking in the mirror and seeing my part in the problem . How am I enabling this situation ?

One way happens to be my feelings toward these two . They have a very special and close knit relationship excluding everyone else . I'm  envious of that because one is a supervisor and the other an employee . There is favouritism that I , also , would like for myself . That's the root of it all . I'm sorry , but there is no place for that at work . You can't do for one and not the other . What happens ? One harbors resentment toward the situation and the person .

Rediscovering our Joy often means looking at things differently .

How do we do that ? I mean , it's easy to say it , but what about living it ? Circumstances have a way of conspiring to leech the Joy right out of our days . God commands us to serve one another . Unfortunately , there are difficult people who make this challenging to accomplish .

Joy is yours . Sometimes all you have to do is ask the Lord to help you see it .

Prayer is the answer , asking God for help in opening our eyes to a new way of seeing and discovering the Joy within . Our Joy is the rightful heritage from God . Everyday this week , let's pray for a new way of seeing the Joy that's unaffected by our situations .

Have a Joyful , Blessed Day everyone .