Weekly Meditations

"This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it. "

Psalm 118:24 (NKJV)

Feb 17th 2014

Mind Over Matter

Sunny day versus rainy day . . .  Busy day versus lazy day . . .   Too much traffic versus a clear road . . .  Spending your day with friends versus spending your day in – horror of horror – a work retreat . . .Isn’t is amazing how outside circumstances impact your mood?

The irony is that none of these kinds of things can really change our mood or our outlook on the day, unless we allow it.  God has given us the amazing capacity to control our own emotions, our own actions, and our own reactions.  Which means that we simply have to make a decision  I’m going to have a positive attitude and a positive disposition – And I will not allow anyone or anything – not the weather, not the traffic, not the schedule, nothing – to get in the way of my good day.

That’s the affirmation of the psalmist: “This is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it.”  He makes an affirmative decision to be glad and find happiness in the day that the Lord has given to him.  He hasn’t seen all that the day will bring, but it doesn’t matter – he’s already decided to make it a good day.  He’s decided that nothing and no one is going to steal his joy that day.  He’s figured out that it’s a question of mind over matter.  If he doesn’t mind, then it won’t matter!

Now, surely there are going to be days that will make you wish you’d just stayed in bed.  And on those days, maintaining a positive attitude can be, umm, difficult.  But I’ll share my secret with you: when “challenged” personalities seem set on destroying my good mood, I repeat the refrain of the psalmist:  “This is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it.”  In this way, I take back my power, insist on my joy, and affirm the authority God has given me to declare victory and peace in my own life.