Really? EVERYTHING?

As you look ahead toward today, what is on your to do list?   Think about the tasks that don't even make your to do list -- things like showering and getting ready, preparing and eating meals, driving in traffic, an argument with a child who seems to schedule them daily.....

Are you excited and looking forward to everything on your list?  Most of us, if we were being honest, which some of us always are to a fault, would admit that there are many things we do each day that do not give us joy.

So this verse tucked away in Deuteronomy 12 is a little convicting

in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you.

Everything.   That whole list.   We should be able to rejoice in all those things.

We read the same idea in I Thessalonians 5 where it simply says, "Rejoice always."  But these verses in Deuteronomy give us the why and the how.

When we are in the presence of the Lord, which is our opportunity all the time, we can rejoice because He has blessed us.   Choosing to be in his presence and remembering his blessings are the key to rejoicing in everything.

I don't know what your day or week is like, but I do know that joy is available to all of us if we accept God's invitation to be in His presence and remember all the blessings he has given us.

In His presence there is joy beyond measure..... rejoice in Him today!