I started my morning worrying about three aspects of our Relevant trip: a sponsored car, two pair of pants I should have had hemmed before now, and something I needed to pick up in Atlanta (not a quick, easy drive). I needed to be “on” and productive, but instead I was stressed and in a funk.

Within a few hours I’d been on the phone with a media coordinator who works with car companies; a seamstress; and a director of PR. Things looked promising, but I realized why my morning had been such an emotional roller coaster:

Joy was absent because I’d searched for it in external sources.

You (or your husband) won’t always get the promotion; the sponsorships might not come through; your most heart-felt posts will sometimes sit without comment. If these things are the foundation—the source—of your joy, your happiness will constantly ebb and flow.

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“Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.” ~ Philippians 4:4

Our pastor has focused on Philippians lately, a book whose central theme is joy. I really love this commentary on Philippians 4:4 (quoted above) in my Thomas Nelson King James Study Bible:

“It is as if the apostle looks into the future, considers all possibilities of sorrow, and in spite of them all repeats ‘the command.’ This command to rejoice at all times and in all circumstances is nothing less than a call to faith. For if the Christian believes that his life and all its circumstances are in the hands of a sovereign, wise, and loving God who is always working to accomplish good for him, than he can indeed ‘rejoice always.'”

What is the source of your joy?

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