Reminders to rejoice and return!

     Sometimes you just have to remind yourself of what you already know--
That God loves you with an everlasting love and wants you to have His best (Rom.8:32, 38-9).
That He is always, always, always enough (Ps.23:1)
That God's grace is forever and always sufficient for our every need (2Cor.12:9)
That God and His Word can be fully trusted (Isa.28:16)
That He makes no mistakes...no, not ever! (Isa.46:10)
(and so much more...thank You, Father, for the incredible, infinite riches we possess in Christ!)
     I've been marinating in the wondrous book of Philippians.  Honestly, I think I could read and reread this little treasure and never begin to exhaust it's great, satisfying, and life-changing truths!  So just a couple of it's gems for a little weekend thought:
     "Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, Rejoice." (Phil.4:4)  Paul repeats this admonition again and again throughout this book--rejoice in the Lord!  Why all this repetition?--so many times in four brief chapters.  Geez, don't you think we've got the message, Paul?
     No!  We need to hear it over and over!  Here's what, just perhaps, Paul might have been contemplating as he wrote and rewrote those words: "I know you will forget.  Because that's what we humans tend to do.  Yes, we know...but then in the muck and mire and daily grind of life, we forget.  We forget what we know, and when we forget, we flounder and fall.  So let me remind you again...and again to daily, hourly, make the choice to rejoice.  It won't come naturally--not often, anyway--so choose now to rejoice. And then in an hour, when perhaps the bottom has dropped out of your hopes or your plans, make the choice to rejoice again. 
     Rejoice not in your ideal circumstances.  Rejoice not in perfect children or perfect marriages or perfect grades in school or perfect homes or perfect anything!  Nope, on this earth there's no perfect anything...save the perfect Savior.  So, instead, make the choice to rejoice in your ever-faithful, ever-loving, ever-forgiving, ever-redeeming Lord."
     So let's do it.  Let's don't just write it down as a nice idea.  Or a noble goal.  Let's simply choose to do it.  Starting now--no matter how messy your house or your life is, no matter how many reasons you can think of for discouragement or even despair, no matter how overly busy--or terribly lonely--you might feel, let's make the choice to rejoice in the Lord.  Let's dare to obey Him and His Word and watch what He will do.  What He will do in us and through us when we choose to obey that one simple, little command to rejoice in the Lord.
     Even Mr. Bingley needed a little reminder last night!  We all need reminding, don't we? He was feeling pretty low after being severely reprimanded for a new project he had taken on--reworking the straw seats on our kitchen chairs--

(This picture doesn't begin to do his handiwork justice.  The whole floor was covered with straw from his determined chewing of a number of the kitchen chairs.)
      Yep, Bingley felt pretty ashamed of himself in the aftermath of his chewing extravaganza--

      Here's how this went down: My husband, Richard texted me while I was at a basketball game with our boys.  It read: "I had to spank Bingley.  I left the mess so you could see it and so he will know it was a bad thing.  He feels very badly and I am holding him now to reassure him that I still love him."  
     I had to laugh.  Couldn't even muster up any anger over the kitchen chairs, since I could see Bingley's obvious remorse.  After all, I love that little guy a lot more than a couple of rickety, old wooden chairs.  And I couldn't help but get tickled over how quickly my husband replaced disciplining with devotion.  Richard couldn't stay mad long...not even for a few minutes!
     And I just thought--isn't that just the way God is with us?  Ever ready to forgive us, hold us, lavish us with His love and remind us that, after all, we--warts and all--are the apple of His eye. He's not mad at us...He loves us with an everlasting love.  His is a love that died for us.  Oh, if only we could get that through out thick skulls!
     And so He tells us to start afresh.  Start now.  Confess the mess up, repent and come to the One who died for all those mistakes and missed opportunities...and then move on, press on, to swim in the river of His grace.  "But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil.3:13-14)
     So today, thank You Lord, for reminding us of Your great truths again and again.  Thank You for the glorious and joy-filling command to rejoice in You. Help us to make the choice to rejoice.     Finally, Father, thank You for the priceless gift of forgiveness and grace and fresh starts.  All free to us...but so terribly costly to You.  Might we return to You--diving in--and swim and splash this day in the refreshing, restoring river of Your grace.
     To God be the glory.