Joy—An Inside Job

I don’t normally copy another person’s article but I read this, this morning on the Men’s Devotion and I had to pass it on and share it with everyone. It really touched me and inspired me in a whole new way.

Dr. Victor Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Meaning, was imprisoned by the Nazis in World War II because he was a Jew. His wife, his children, and his parents were all killed in the Holocaust. The Gestapo stripped him of his clothes. He stood totally naked before them. As they cut off his wedding band, Viktor said to himself, “You can take away my wife, you can take away my children, you can strip me of my clothes and my freedom, but there is one thing no person can ever take away from me—and that is my freedom to choose how I will react to what happens to me!” Even under the most difficult of circumstances, joy is a choice which transforms our tragedies into triumph. Let’s face it, not everything goes our way. Things don’t always work out as we planned. Some days are disasters. Other days are worse than that. Happiness comes easily when things go our way. Joy is different. It’s deeper. Joy is an attitude we select. Happiness is external and subject to what happens. Joy is an inside job in which we opt to rejoice regardless of the circumstances. Don’t confuse happiness with joy. Happiness is a buoyant emotion that results from the momentary plateaus of well-being. Joy is bedrock stuff. Joy is a confidence that operates irrespective of our moods. Joy is the certainty that all is well, however we feel. Joy is a divine dimension of living that is not shackled by circumstances simply because we have chosen to respond in a positive manner. Paul is saying in Philippians 4:4 that joy is not something that happens to me but rather something I deliberately and consciously select. Circumstances seldom generate lasting smiles and laughter. Joy comes to those who determine to choose it in spite of their circumstances.

This is so true. I see myself determining my emotions of happiness or joy based on my circumstances, and I think that we all have at a point. I realize that Joy comes into our life through my own ambition and desire to live my life in the existence of Joy. I have to choose to live in Joy just as I have to choose to have faith. The problem that we face is that Joy requires us to work for that joy. If we want to have a happy marriage we have to work at it and continue to work at it. Joy can be a part of our life and we choose who can steel it from us. You don't just let anyone take your money that you worked so hard for, so why would you let someone steel your joy that you worked for either. The choice is yours but it is "An inside Job”.