My Stability

I hope that everyone here in the states had a wonderful Memorial Day as we celebrated the lives of those who gave the highest sacrifice in order for us to enjoy the freedoms that we many times tend to take for granted.

I spent a good part of Saturday digging out empty boxes and throwing out the ingredients of a few others that Josh and I stacked in there from the attic on Wednesday.  Sunday was quite a bit more difficult as I began to pack up the kitchen cabinets.  I was a little unprepared for all the memories that would come rushing over me as I handled all the dishes, bowls, serving trays and the pots and pans.  It quickly dawned on me the kitchen was the center of activity for our home.  It along with the dining/family room were Piper’s domain.  I can’t tell of all the hours the whole family spent in there sharing the cooking responsibilities, telling stories, laughing, joking and even at times, dancing around the room!

So, by late afternoon, I was completely spent, physically, spiritually and mostly, emotionally.  Then as I was sitting on the floor barely attempting to fill up another box, my neighbor and her little dog appeared at our front door!  I was never so happy to see someone.  It was like a breath of heaven and I told her so!  She stayed for a short period of time and as she was leaving, I shared how hard it was for me to not be sad over all the memories that the items in the kitchen represented to me.

And with that comment, she stopped in the doorway and with a smile said, “You have to remember that all those memories are happy memories… and that is what you need to dwell on!”  Well, that comment was what I needed to hear and I told her that yes, we really had a great marriage over all those years and I don’t have much of anything to complain about!  So, from now on, I choose to dwell on the happiness of all those memories!

I was reminded of that conversation as I started my Bible study today by writing down, as I do daily, my theme scripture verse for this year.  It comes from the end of I Peter 1:8 and declares, as I personalize it, “…because I actively believe in Him, I greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.” (NASB)  Then I encircle in red, the words REJOICE, JOY and FULL… just as Piper did in her old NASB Bible many years ago.

While writing it down today, I felt a spark of interest at the words “greatly rejoice.”  So, I looked it up in numerous translations as well as in the original Greek.  I found it interesting that most of the older versions do not include the word “greatly” while the majority of the newer ones I have include it or other descriptive terms to define something that is more than just a little bit of joy.  Strong’s explains this type of rejoicing as “much joy, to jump for joy, to be exceedingly glad.”  Robert’s Word Pictures states that it is the “active tense” of the verb.  (Have you ever stopped to consider all the ACTIVITY that the Christian walk involves?)

I especially liked what the Bible Illustrator said.  It describes “The Christian Joy” by saying that it is: “a present joy, a great joy, our privilege, our influence over others” and that “it is our own stability!”  Those descriptions nailed it for me and seemed to perfectly explain how the JOY of the Lord worked in, through and for us during our most trying times from 2007 until Piper’s home going in 2018.

I had realized early on after our return home from Oklahoma and things began to rapidly unwind with Piper’s health, that the one negative thing (if you can call it that!) with living with a very joyful person… is that you need to keep up the levels of joy in and around them as much as possible!  I quickly ascertained that this was going to be one of my greatest responsibilities, especially as her own ability to function independently decreased.

I’ve told of the difficulty I had when I felt that the Lord had told me that I needed to begin to lessen her interactions with those close to her, who refused to or simply could not put their own feelings aside and attempt to have some joy while in her presence.  Their sadness and depression would actually suck the JOY out of her.  It was amazing to see how it physically affected her… even after a short visit. 

What I didn’t realize at first, was that staying in an attitude of Godly JOY was just as important for me as it was for her.  Looking back today, I can see that I most likely would NOT have been able to do all the various facets of what I had to do in my care for her, if I had not had His JOY keeping me focused, strong emotionally and physically and mentally astute.

And today… Well, I need it more than ever without her!  Since she has been gone, my morning wake-ups have been… Oh, shall we say… EMPTY!  But after a couple of moments of singing simple praise songs and speaking out some very familiar scriptures, the JOY begins to percolate up from inside of me and I am ready to face the day.  Every morning and as I develop it throughout the day (through reading His Word, singing praise songs, listening to Christian music and personal scripture confession), I find myself experiencing exactly what the above explanation of CHRISTIAN JOY describes. 

For me it is a vital part of my daily existence.  It truly has become “My Present Joy, My Great Joy, My Privilege, a great part of My Influence over others” and I depend upon it to be “My Own Stability!” 

How about YOU?

Have a great week, and as you do, join me in declaring that… “I am expecting my Christian Joy to be my Present Joy, my Great Joy, my Privilege, my Influence and a big part of my Stability in life.”