A prayer to bring joy to others

My thoughts are ALL over the place this morning due to a strong cup of coffee combined with finally feeling better (not 100%) after battling a nasty cold/virus. Thankfully, it wasn’t Covid or the flu! I rarely go to the doctor, but felt so miserable I did schedule an appointment. Kudos to my gratitude challenge and this blog for reining me in. I was initially quite annoyed that I wasted my time and money for a doctor to tell me there wasn’t anything wrong with me, which isn’t what she said but that’s what I heard. Anyway, I could have raged about this but I said to myself ‘Hold up, Mary, look at what you can be grateful for. Your doctor was able to squeeze you in. You found out it wasn’t Covid or the flu, which is a good thing. And if it had been, it would have been a incredibly beneficial to be at the doctor to receive treatment.’ And my mind hit the reset button. Finding out what it wasn’t was helpful to me, even if I didn’t find out what it was. We’ll just call it a free souvenir from my vacation.

Any way, that’s not what today’s post is about. Today I read in my daily devotional about joy. The joy that Christ brings into your life when you accept Him. The joy that you can bring others through prayer and daily interactions. I used to think cynically about joy – that somehow being joyful meant you were being false or insincere. Or if I dared to express joy, I might become a magnet for something awful happening (I call this eeyore syndrome – being afraid to be happy). Lately I think of joy along the lines of being grateful DESPITE what life throws at you. There are plenty of days when life beats me up. Being Christian doesn’t prevent life from occurring. Bad things happen to good people. Bad things happen to bad people. Bad things happen. That’s life. What I can control is my reaction and not falling into the self-pitying victim spiral.

The daily devotional referenced Psalm 4 (Let the light of your face shine on us. Fill my heart with joy), but I’d like to turn your focus to Matthew 5…because I performed in Godspell. The actual scripture here: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

which translated into a lovely ditty from Godspell

So let your light so shine before men
Let your light so shine
So that they might know some kindness again
We all need help to feel fine 

And finally a prayer (which is from my devotional, but with some Mary flair)

Dear Lord

Thank you for all the blessings you have given to me. Every day brings an opportunity to receive Your joy and love as well as to share Your joy and love with others. Help me to walk in the Spirit through everything I face. May others experience You through touching my life.

Amen

And two pictures of me in 70s garb that bring me joy and I hope bring you joy, too!