Rejoice

Hello, everyone! I planned to post this on Wednesday, but there was a mix-up with the person who was supposed to give me feedback. I’m sorry. 

I have two brief announcements before we start today’s post. I will be changing my posting schedule. Instead of every Wednesday, I will be posting every other Wednesday. I’m doing this because the next few months are going to be very busy for me and I need more time to both write and edit posts. 

The second announcement is that I will be launching a second blog in January. The new blog will be about my writing. The reason I’m making a second blog instead of just talking about my writing here is that this blog’s main focus is Jesus. The other blog’s main focus will be networking and getting people interested in my books. Once it’s launched, there will be links posted here if you want to check that out, but I will not automatically add anyone as a subscriber to the new blog. 

With that said, today, I bring you a post about something that I’m not too good at. Rejoicing.

Just to clarify, rejoicing and being happy are two different things. You’re happy when your sports team wins a game or when you get that present you wanted. You rejoice when your close friend recovers from a fatal illness or when you realize that Jesus’ death and resurrection frees you from your sins. Happiness is fleeting and surface-level. Rejoicing is returning to a joy that is long-lasting and deep. 

I am pessimistic. I expect the worst to happen and am pleasantly surprised when it doesn’t. That special trip? Going to get canceled. A surprise? Probably not something I’ll actually like. And don’t even get me started on posting. I agonize over every single post for at least fifteen minutes, if not longer. Then I sigh and say, “Well, good enough, I suppose” and expect someone to comment on it a mistake I made. 

Needless to say, I am not good at rejoicing. But sometimes there will be something that pushes just the right key combination. Maybe it’s a particularly beautiful day or a secret good deed that I see out of the corner of my eye or a compliment when I need it the most. And one of those little things makes me overflow with joy at the beauty of the Lord and His creation. 

I think this is a problem many people struggle with. Most of us need to rejoice more. We need to stop complaining about all the hard work we have to do and rejoice in the fact that we can work at all. We need to stop grumbling that it’s not the right food and rejoice that we are privileged enough to have eat. We need to stop and rejoice. Because, in the words of Dr. Seuss, we’re “really quite lucky.” Only, we’re not lucky. We’re blessed. No matter how poor we are, we have the most wonderful gift we could ever imagine. We have Jesus. And so many people don’t. Why waste time complaining when we could be celebrating our salvation? Why waste time complaining when the King of Love came down to a dirty, smelly manger so that He could grow up, die a painful death on a cross, and rise from the dead, conquering death, all to save us?

“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.”

We are forgiven, redeemed, and family members of God Himself. We have every reason to rejoice. Hallelujah, praise the Lord.

Sincerely,
Hosanna