Be cheerful with joyous celebration in every season of life. Let joy overflow, for you are united with the Anointed One! (Phil. 4:4 TPT)
Earlier this week, I was standing in my kitchen ready to make my way out the door. I live at home with mom and dad, along with my 4 year old niece and her mother. As I put my coat on, bracing myself for the unpleasant cold and the potential of scraping frost off my windows, my niece danced around me in circles singing, “It’s winter time. It’s happy time. It’s winter time! It’s happy time!” As I opened the door, she exclaimed, “What a beautiful car you have Auntie!”
I realized I have so much to learn from this beautiful little girl.
If you know anything about me, you know I positively hate winter. There I said it. The cold, the wet, the snow, the ice, the driving, the shoveling and my favorite, the 4:00 pm darkness sometimes makes me wonder if God really loves me, okay I’m kidding, but you catch my drift.
And my car…My car has over 230,000 miles on it and runs questionably. I just spent $750 dollars to get it worked on and still have another repair for about the same amount that needs to be done. I am trying to spread out the life of my car long enough to pay for my upcoming wedding and to get a new one. So right now, I’m not loving my car.
As I walked out the door and got in the car, it struck me that I would experience much more joy, even in the midst of things that are unpleasant, if I chose to look at life the way my niece does. As much as I hate to admit it, even the winter season can be a happy time, if I choose to view it that way. Sure it’s cold and wet, but there is such beauty in freshly fallen snow and who doesn’t love a good snow day?
My car is a beautiful car. It has served me well and taken me from point A to point B and guess what? I’m lucky to have one.
So here’s my challenge to us today: Choose happy. Choose to put on your rose colored glasses and see the beauty even in the winter seasons of life. Let this be the year that you choose a new perspective and switch the lens you have been viewing your life with.
Because guess what? It’s happy time!
