Think On These Things

We are all different from one another, and that variety is the spice of life.  Some of us have upbeat dispositions, while others play the music of life in a minor key. Yet how we respond to life's trials affects not only our overall disposition but also our witness.

   The famous hymn writer Fanny Crosby lost sight when she was only 6 weeks old. She lived into her nineties, composing thousands of loved songs. On her 92nd birthday, she cheerfully said, "If in all the world you can find a happier person than I am, do bring him to me. I should like to shake his hand."

   Fanny carried out a resolution she made when she was only 8 years old: "How many blessings I enjoy that other people don't. To weep and sigh because I'm blind, I cannot, and I won't."  At an early age, she chose to "rejoice in the Lord always" (Philippians 4:4) no matter how bleak the situation might appear. 

  The prophet Nehemiah reminds us that it is "the joy of the Lord is our strength", and Jesus boldly proclaimed in John 15, "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."

  Our challenge for this week is, when faced with the choice of self-pity or faith-filled joy, to respond with joy.