How important is joy in our lives! God wants us to have joy. He wants us to sing, dance, and rejoice in what he has done. He created everything so beautiful. When you truly look around at creation it will take your breath away if you really ponder the intricacy of what you are seeing you cannot help but be in awe, a gorgeous sunrise of vibrant reds and oranges gracing the skies over a peaceful majestic mountain, crashing rivers surrounded by a thick forest with a clear blue sky above who can even imagine the views that God has blessed us with. 

     On top of the beauty of creation there is also the exquisite value of our fellow believer’s souls and our own hearts. God has created each one of us unique. God has enlightened each of us in different ways and each of us understands things more fully than others better than others. That is one of the reasons why community is so important we are always learning from one another. God is using us in our own ways and words cannot describe what is going on in our hearts. It is a treasured privilege when you are in a deep enough community where you are able to get a glimpse of the spiritual growth taking place in another person. If only we always thought this way all the time. 

     It is our choice to see the beauty in the world. There is no denying that the world is a fallen place. There is heartache and sorrow every place we look. If we get caught up on these things we can get bitter and depressed. We forget that God did not make sin that is on us and we blame him. Sin is our choice. We cannot say it is God's fault for the terrible around us though sadly that is what we do. Proverbs 16:9 says that "The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps". Man will do what he wants but God can turn it all around for good. So Instead of being upset at God we should be praising Him for all that is good and pray to Him for continued redemption for the world. 

     The bible says all that is good comes from the Lord. When we are caught up on the negative our eyes are not on God. How sad is it when we are only focused on the bad. The joy and wonder is sucked out of us and we become so serious. We all have different temptations when this happens. When I get too focused on the bad I become depressed at the people in the world. I only notice the stupidity in people. Then I go the opposite direction and I start getting caught up on my flaws and start comparing myself to others and think that I am worthless. It is true that I am not good at many things which a lot of Christians value. I pray and pray to be better at these things. But God time and time again has made it clear to me that he has created me this way for a purpose. He gave all of us our own talents and we should not be looking around at others comparing who's talents are "better".  When we focus solely on God and his desires for us joy comes naturally.