Day 3

We are responsible for our joy.

Today I had a lot of joy. I went snowboarding with two good friends at Lake Louise. It was each of our first times visiting. It was snowing all day, creating great conditions and and breathtakingly beautiful scenery.

But it was also unfamiliar terrain, which meant we missed turns, took detours, and made a number of stops to check the map. We also hit a lot flat spots, which for snowboarders, is the worst. Unlike skiers who can propel themselves with their sticks, we get stuck and have to unclip and walk to steeper terrain to continue. If we knew the terrain better, we'd know when to keep up more speed so we could get past the flat spots.

These things could have colored the day more negatively. It could have created frustration, but we chose to differently. We chose to enjoy the blessing of the adventure with friends in a gorgeous setting.

We flew into Calgary last night. When I was on the plane, I was listening to the meditation at the end of the audiobook of Do The New You by Steven Furtick. I love anchoring the mindsets with the scripture. It's a great refresher when I don't have time to reread the whole book.

One of the affirmations is "My joy is my job". It stuck out to me because I'm in the Canadian Rockies with friends, getting to be active and outdoors. These are some pretty amazing things.

And yet, with everything that's going on in the world, it's easy to get angry, frustrated, annoyed, or even hopeless. We can get so consumed by what's wrong that we miss what's right. I'm not saying ignore what's wrong. I absolutely agree with the thought, "the only thing needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

We are meant to be the hands and feet of Jesus: loving, welcoming, serving. If we don't like what we're seeing, we can choose to act and think differently. Choose to speak out, choose to dedicate your career, choose to be kind to the stranger on your bus, choose to buy from a small business.

But also, choose to see the helpers, choose to acknowledge kindness, choose to bask in the sunshine on your face.

Choose to find joy.

Choose to create joy.