Sunday, February 11, 2007

Choosing Joy

Today, I was reminded once again to "choose joy". I receive a daily on-line meditation (HenriNouwen.org) and as I was catching up on my emails, I read this meditation:

Choosing Joy:
Joy is what makes life worth living, but for many joy seems hard to find. They complain that their lives are sorrowful and depressing. What then brings the joy we so much desire? Are some people just lucky, while others have run out of luck? Strange as it may sound, we can choose joy. Two people can be part of the same event, but one may choose to live it quite differently than the other. One may choose to trust that what happened, painful as it may be, holds a promise. The other may choose despair and be destroyed by it. What makes us human is precisely this freedom of choice



I truly believe that each and every one of us can choose our response to adversity... we can mope and feel sorry for ourselves.... blame others or ourselves... or we can choose joy. I found myself feeling sorry for myself this past chemo - not something I do a lot and consciously try to avoid as I don't like the downward spiral it leads me into. But I found myself indulging in a bit of a pity party as I was feeling so low. Now, don't think I'm some sort of Polly Anna - I'm not going to be shouting the joys of chemo anytime soon. But what I can do is choose to look at my chemo as something that is keeping me alive and that will, God willing, heal me. I can be thankful that I live in a country that has access to good medical care (as much as we complain about it in Canada, it really IS good). So that is my goal for this week.... choose joy wherever possible.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Annette, Thanks for sharing that website. I like his writings. I pray for JOY for you this week. Alice

Anonymous said...

Hi Annette
What a lady you are!!! you truly are an inspiration, I learn so much from you!!! Yes I too will pray for JOY for you this week and for so many others that are hurting. Wishing you a good week with lots of joy. Love P&S

Clare said...

Annette, I notice that the CDSS calendar theme for February is Celebrate Joy, so that will be a good reminder to me all month to think about you and wish you joy. I hope you find lots of it, and that the chemo next time is a bit easier.

Betsy said...

How very true! I am a firm believer in choosing joy, and it really is a choice that you have to consciously make.

Sometimes, we have to go through sucky things, and trying to find a little joy in each day makes all the difference in the world.