Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright.

Psalms 33:1, RSV

 

One of the things that concerns me about those seeking to do the right thing for God is that they might forget that He wants us to be happy along the way. When we get too caught up in the cares of this world it is sometimes difficult to focus on the joy of this life that God has so richly blessed us with.

 

Take today, for instance. After working all morning on some chores that I have been putting off, I pulled up to the house for lunch and was greeted by my grandson.

 

He is two.

 

He brings the joy with him!

 

He has a crooked little smile that makes him look like he is always up to something. This is fine with me because the things that a two year old is up to are usually fun for grandfathers and today was no different. Our daughter had been out for a walk with he and my 10 month old granddaughter and had come by for a visit. They only stayed for a few minutes, but during that time I got to eat grapes with my grandson, at his request. He likes grapes and showed his great satisfaction as we went back for seconds. Actually they were technically second, seconds because we had already gone back for seconds earlier. Then they went home for lunch.

 

Now, you are probably wondering why I am taking so much of your valuable time with a pointless story about grandchildren and grapes, but this seemingly pointless story is at the heart of what I wanted to share with you today. So, what's the point?

 

Just this: God is good! He gives us countless moments of joy every day of our lives for no other reason than the fact that He is good and he wants us to enjoy His goodness. And what does he require in exchange for these continual and infinite small doses of joy? He wants us to be good (righteous), and he wants us to give Him the praise that befits One who is so good. 

 

This is a good trade!

 

It is true that there are lots of bad people doing bad things that have serious consequences, but that does not mean that we have to let the bad distract us from the good. I'll bet if you really thought about your day, you could come up with all sorts of moments of joy, small and large, that the Lord had showered upon you today.

 

It's all too apparent that each one of us have sobering things to deal with, and in the upcoming days I plan to write about some of these serious responsibilities we have as servants of the Lord, but today I was reminded that there is still an awful lot of joy in this beautiful life that God has given and I thought that the reminder might help you as well. 

 

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

Philippians 4:4, RSV

 

By the way, I truly appreciate those of you who have taken the time to like and share these articles. It helps to get the message of God's greatness to more people and I thank you for your kindness.