SPARKS OF JOY

From all outward appearances it should have been a dark time…and yet it wasn't. There were sparks of joy appearing out of nowhere.

It was a good idea to get my tires rotated as winter set in - as my vehicle was in the air, the mechanic informed me that my back window was shattering, he could hear and see it happening right before his eyes. He had never seen anything like it in his 40 years of being a mechanic. Sure enough, five minutes later as I prepared to try to make it home, the window had progressed from cracking to a gaping hole beginning to appear. Could I make it home so I could call the mobile window replacement service?

I gingerly headed home. Driving down the main country road, I found myself actually smiling as I could hear the cracking, crackling and shattering of the window as the hole became larger and larger, shards of glass falling into my back seat.

Yes, I actually caught myself smiling. Thinking that was a strange reaction, I wondered about what I was thinking to make me smile. Surprisingly, I was having thoughts of thankfulness to God - that this began to happen while I was under the watchful eye of a mechanic, that I was not on the highway, that I had a day off from work to deal with it before I needed to be on the road (safely) again and that it was the back window, not the front windshield so I could see to get home. Also, there was thankfulness to God for His faithfulness to me, His unfailing love and care for me. Thankfulness seemed to create sparks of joy.

May I encourage you to do an experiment this next year? Consciously and specifically thank God - and see the sparks of joy that will appear in your heart and mind. Those sparks may even bubble up into outright delighted laughter. Keep a tally of joy-filled moments this next year - just see what God is doing in you.

Jesus said: If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I (Jesus) have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be full.

John 15:10 & 11

May our lives be filled with sparks of joy because we are consciously and specifically thanking God in obedience to the teachings of Jesus!

Heavenly Father, I'm beginning the New Year right - THANK YOU!

Reflections of God's Glory copyright 2011 by Dawn Ulmer, deu49097@yahoo.com