Remember Where Your Joy Comes From

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

As I was sitting at my desk working one autumn afternoon, my husband called me asking me to bring him lunch. I was wrapping up a couple of tasks, so I told him I’d leave in the next few minutes, and I’d bring him something to eat while he was getting ready for youth group later that night.

I didn’t realize until I walked out our front door how cold and rainy it was outside. The sky is a dreary gray color. Little droplets of water speckled my hoodie as I walked from the porch to my car. And a chilled wind blew my hood off my head.

Let’s just say it looked like one of those days where you just want to stay inside from morning till night with a hot cup of coffee, a blanket, and your favorite movie. This was not a day to be out and about.

I pulled my car out of the driveway and drove down the main street in our neighborhood towards the highway. About the time I was halfway out of the neighborhood, I passed a garbage truck. Wednesday is trash day here, and I had already seen this garbage truck stop by our house earlier that day.

My first thought as I saw the garbage man throwing someone’s trash into the back of the truck was, “Gosh, what an awful day to be a garbage man. It’s cold. It’s wet. It’s raining. I would not want to be doing his job right now.”

As these thoughts were going through my head, I slowly drove past the truck. And when I did, the garbage man gave me the biggest smile and waved at me as I passed by.

I smiled and waved back, meanwhile hearing the Holy Spirit whisper to my heart: If that’s not proof that your joy is not rooted in your circumstances, then I don’t know what is.

That guy had plenty of things he could have been grumpy about. He could have had the worst attitude and I wouldn’t have blamed him. I don’t know very many people who are smiling and bee-bopping around as they are picking up people’s trash on a cold and rainy day. But this guy was. And he set quite the convicting example for me in that, as a follower of Jesus, I can always experience joy and rejoice in the Lord, regardless of what is going on around me.

What I love about today’s key verse is that Paul doesn’t write, “Give thanks for all circumstances…” He says, “Give thanks in all circumstances.” No matter what we’re walking through, no matter what we’re carrying, and no matter what we’re dealing with, we can rejoice. We can give thanks. We can smile and wave at the person passing by because our joy comes from the Lord, not from our surrounding circumstances.

So I hope today, you’ll do what I’m going to do and think of that garbage man when you’re tempted to complain. When you’re tempted to get frustrated, angry, annoyed, or ungrateful, I hope we can remember the sweet man who smiled and waved while he collected trash on a cold, rainy afternoon. And I pray that you and I together can follow the example he set for us with Paul’s words in mind: Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).