This is the day that the LORD has made;

let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24)

              You don’t have to look very hard to find depressing news in the world. War, disease, suffering, acts of senseless violence, the destruction of severe weather. It can be depressing.

              Then there are the struggles, big and small, of our own lives; health issues, money issues, family issues, not to mention the little annoyances that add up like technology not working as it should. Tell me again how technology makes our lives better as I spend hours on the phone with “tech support” trying to get my internet working.

              Amid all of that, I keep flipping through the Bible and hearing things like, “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.” Or “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, JOY, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.” Or the Psalm noted above. Rejoice. Joy. Be joyful. It’s like the Bible’s authors live on a different planet.

              Except they don’t. Psalm 118 is a song of thanksgiving for victory in battle, but other Psalms lament great losses. When Paul encouraged us to rejoice always, he was in prison. And he lists joy as a fruit of the Spirit while involved in a bitter dispute with members of the church at Galatia. In other words, the world of the Bible had it’s struggles, too.

              My wife likes to say that joy is an act of resistance. It’s like laughing at the bully as they beat you up or tear you down. It’s a way of saying to the world, “You may burden me, but you will NOT break me.” Joy is a choice.

              Julie Andrews keeps coming to mind. Do you remember her singing to the von Trapp children in “The Sound of Music”?

When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I’m feeling sad,

I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don’t feel so bad.

              Joy is a choice. And while we must still fight injustice and battle against evil, we must also choose joy, for this is the day that our God has made.