As we see each week in the Scriptures, God has provided avenues for us to find our joy. But like everything else in our Christian walk, joy is a matter of putting on and putting off. Besides putting on joy-building disciplines, sometimes we need to put off joy-robbing distractions.
This week’s joy tip is simple to understand, but sometimes hard to implement. For those who love to check your phones multiple times throughout the day, this tip may be a challenge. However, this one little action can help to change the joy-atmosphere of your day!
We are absolutely bombarded with joy-crushing articles, news stories, and social media posts each day. COVID, the election, social unrest, and divisive issues jockey for our attention. Those very things can block our vision and cause us to miss out on the joy that is rightfully ours.
I challenge you to say, “NO MORE!” Get into your phone settings and set a daily limit on your exposure to negative influences. Putting my phone to block the internet and time-wasting apps until 5:00 pm each day has lifted my spirits and helped me keep a clear focus on my daily priorities.
Without the joy-robbing negativity, I’m more able to hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, and I’m much quicker to recognize the joyful moments that occur during my day.
Staying current has become an obsession with so many of us. However, at the same time, staying current with things that we have no control over or that we cannot change in any way will only rob us of the opportunity to focus on the things that we can influence: our marriages, our children, our homes and communities, and most importantly, our JOY!
Will you take the challenge?
I promise you’ll reap joyful spiritual blessings!
Megan Scheibner 