Sunday, August 14, 2011

Rejoice Always!

"Rejoice always. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."                   1 Thessalonians 5:16,18.

ALWAYS?! In EVERYTHING?! I must say, I had a tough time putting this truth into practice today. Granted, this story I'm about to share is not really that big of a deal, but it's one of those things that occurs on occasion and attempts to steal my joy. 

I wanted to make mashed potatoes this afternoon, so I went through the motions of pealing, cutting, boiling, draining, mixing, etc. and I used over half the bag because my husband really likes them and I wanted enough for left overs. I whipped them into a velvety smooth texture and began to add the usual yumminess of butter, milk & seasonings. Lastly, to be added was the salt...an over abundance, in fact! Much to my dismay, the salt shaker's rubber cap flew off and dumped over half its contents into my lovely potatoes! The other half went into the stove, on the counter, and all over the floor!! So on top of having to clean up a salty mess, try as I might, I could not salvage the potatoes...All was ruined. SEE?!
Yes, I was frustrated, but before overreacting the way I'm prone to, I remembered this verse in 1 Thessalonians and, as ridiculous as it sounds, I asked myself, "Can I find joy in ruined potatoes?". Dwelling on this verse drew my attention back to the things I should be thankful for...thankful that it wasn't the WHOLE bag of potatoes; thankful that my 16month old twins were napping at the time and not around to eagerly "help" Mommy with clean up; thankful for the visual lesson of "even an excessive amount of a good thing, is bad." It's all about perspective. "If you look for the bad in things, you'll surely find it. So look for the good instead."

Find Joy in Him, Beloved!

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