Joy and Salt

      A pinch of salt can make or break a good meal. Without it, otherwise delicious food can be bland, unexciting, and sometimes downright unpleasant. Joy is like salt. Without, it life is sad and dull. It says in Nehemiah 8:10 "The joy of the LORD is my strength." The joy that comes from the One who gave us this life is what keeps us going. Joy can make or break your day. 

     The days I choose to rest in the joy of the LORD are wonderful. All seems right with the world any my heart can rest, it is good and beautiful. When I'm resting in joy, the day doesn't need to have anything special in it to be good. It's good simply because of that overwhelming joy and peace that is given to us by the One who created joy and peace. Joy is the salt that makes an ordinary day, extraordinary. 

      But then there are those days when I don't choose to rest in joy. Those days aren't so good. They are the days when I let fear, worry, stress, a bad attitude etc. settle in. Without joy, there's no salt, no flavor, life is bland or even scary. John 10:10 says, "The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy; I have come that you may have life and have it to the full." That's right, the enemy of our souls' main goal is to "steal, kill, and destroy..." And when we let him steal our joy, we are letting him steal our God given strength. Without joy, we become weak and easily deceived by the lies the enemy so desperately wants us to buy into. 

       All to often, I find myself being robbed of my joy. My Love is constantly reminding me that in my struggle with fear I must follow the advice of Philippians 4:8 which says, "Finally brethren, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." He asks me to literally go through and list the good and beautiful things of our life. The things of joy and peace that are salt to my soul. I do have a truly beautiful life! 

      

My salt this week: 

   *A house crammed full of wonderful friends and laughter. 

   *Crayons all over my floor and hugs from sweet babies. 

   * The excitement of science fair at school and my wonderful students. 

   *Laughing with kids over the possibility of April Fool's jokes.

   *Thoughts of this summer's garden.

So much joy, so much goodness, so much life. Don't let it be stolen! Happy Friday. 

"Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy." ~Leo Buscaglia