Protecting My Uplook Routine

Joy is a personal choice to react or respond to life's uncertainties with faith.

Joy is an outlook based on an uplook. It is a decision more than a sensation.

Skip Heitzig

Jesus, Others, then Yourself
JOY

Perhaps you are like me and need a reset. Whatever it is we are facing at the moment cannot be helped by our coming at it with anger or hostility. But to react in a positive way just might make the situation more bearable even if it doesn't change the outcome. Yesterday, I took a day off, stayed in my jammies and worked hard to stay away from my task list. I desperately needed to get off the hamster wheel if just for one day. It helped. Today I am ready to roll up my sleeves and accomplish what needs to get done. Too often I think I can't take a break with all that needs to be completed. But the truth is that when I go full throttle all the time, I am actually running around like the chicken with its head cut off that we have all heard about. I may be staying busy but am I efficiently accomplishing anything? I may be stepping beside friends and family in need but do I have a heart filled with mercy and giving? I can't share water from an empty bucket or one with only a few drops left. It won't quench my thirst or theirs. So I chose to take a step away so my reaction, my response to life's uncertainties would be faith not fear and dread. 

Today is a new day. As Kylie dog lays beside me on the couch with hot coffee and an electric fire, we share a Bible study and a blog routine that I have missed. 2019 has been a year of being away from my home and from my morning routine. What I should see is that my morning routine is a choice that I can choose anywhere even when I am not on my own couch. 2020 promises to be another year on the move so I need to make the decision to keep my routine as I step out next year. God gives me the opportunity to travel and spend time with those I love. But I am best when I choose time with Him and my coffee first thing in the morning. Heck, He wakes me up at 4:30 or 5:00 am for a reason. Ron sleeps later so I always have this time to myself whether we are home, in our Prairie Princess RV or at someone else's home. So I am going to take the first light of the day to remind myself that joy is an outlook based on an uplook. I can't have the right outlook without the uplook. Too often I have deceived myself thinking I would get back to my Bible study and blog later in the day. It never happens. If I don't make it the first thing of the day it never happens. 

 So for me choosing  JOY really means choosing to begin my day with Him. What is your routine to look upward through your days? Let's make a December 15th agreement to not let anything get in the way of our upward gaze no matter what yours looks like. I'm in and hope you are too.

In Him,

Joyful

12-15-19