Oh Heart, Rejoice

What causes your heart to rejoice? Most commonly it's some exciting news or event, something very noteworthy. Last year, for Mister Bill and I, it was a fiftieth anniversary; while we anticipate more, there will never be another fiftieth. The psalmist writes, "Let the heart of the them rejoice that seek the Lord" (Psalm 105:3 KJV). Seeking (pursuing) The Lord may not seem as something that qualifies one to ... rejoice - an experience of joy and gladness in a high degree. Yet, God says to go in search of Him is a joyous thing! Do you suppose our hearts have become hardened by the progressive thrill of the wrong things?  Read these words of an 18th Century woman: "I do not know when I have had happier times in my soul, than when I have been sitting at work, with nothing before me but a candle and a white cloth, and hearing no sound but that of my own breath, with God in my soul and heaven in my eye ... I rejoice in being exactly what I am - a creature capable of loving God, and who, as long as God lives, must be happy. I get up and look for a while out of the window, and gaze at the moon, and stars, the work of an Almighty hand. I think of the grandeur of the universe, and then sit down, and think myself one of the happiest beings in it." (Daily Strength for Daily Needs). Nehemiah 8:10 says "the joy of the Lord is your strength" ... can there be anything more simple yet sustaining to God's children than knowing The Lord's abiding Presence in the daily moments of life: preparing a meal, driving to work, doing laundry, caring for children or an elderly parent, sweeping the floor? Gephard Tersteegen wrote: "Be Thou my Sun, my selfishness destroy - Thy atmosphere of Love be all my joy - Thy Presence be my sunshine ever bright - My soul the little mote that lives but in Thy light." I have need to ask myself on what my heart finds its center - in my little selfish joys or in The Presence of The One Whose joy brings strength and joy to my soul? In Christ alone ... oh heart, rejoice!