Joy, joy, joy

Our Daily Bread
I am fortunate to have sung a lot of songs over the years.  I can't remember the title, but one song said something like "there'll be joy in the morning on that day, there'll be joy, joy, joy..."  It is uncommon to hear the word "joy" repeated over and over!

What about our lives?  Can we truly say we have joy in our lives?  Can we repeat "there'll be joy, joy, joy in the morning" or even sing the children's song "I have the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart"  WHERE?  ha!  According to the devotional, joy comes from thanksgiving.  I never thought of it that way.  I know that there are many benefits to "gratitude therapy", meaning that we should be truly thankful for all the blessings we have.  It is human nature and the ways of this world to mourn all the things we don't have! 

Let's try something.  Put some sticky notes on your fridge and write something down that you are thankful for each day.  Read them at least once per day.  You will probably have a fridge covered with sticky notes! 

Lord, thank you for your love and blessings.  Please help us to be truly thankful and experience your joy, joy, joy down in our hearts!

Teaching Tuesday
King David
The lesson was about King David this week.  Check out II Samuel for the tale of how he used his diplomatic aplomb to unite the north and south kingdoms into one Israel.  This was no small feat!  David also capture Jerusalem and made it the capital city of Israel.  This was another diplomatic feat since Jerusalem was neither in the north or south kingdoms. 

There is also the story of David and Bathsheba.  It is a very familiar story to most.  I was reminded of how God works while reading about this story -- God can and will forgive us our sins, however, we usually still have to deal with the repercussions of our sins on our own.  For David, it was not being able to build the temple to YAWH.  He also lost the first son that Bathsheba bore him.  Sin brings heartache and pain.

It was very cool that God made a covenant with David that was to last eternally.  God made that covenant regardless of the sin David committed.  It reminded me that God loves and works through imperfect folks to accomplish his will.  Wow!  Praise God!

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u r a bcog u r fawm Now believe it!