Me and Oscar the Grouch

At my work place each day, my boss greets each person he sees with a cheerful smile and a hearty “Good morning!” At first, I confess I didn’t quite know how to respond to that. See, I grew up in a home where the grouchies were a known and easily identified entity until all adults had swallowed their first AM cup of coffee. I honestly believed that was normal: grouchy until caffeinated. But its not. Further, it’s a waste of a perfectly great morning to be a “pouty-poo” as my friend Debbie says.

And guess what I am learning from Dave's daily cheeriness of disposition? Joy is a habit. Yup. A habit! A choice to be! And it's not as difficult as I once assumed. In fact, I rather like choosing not to be Oscar the grouch. God is still in the business of teaching old dogs new tricks—even me.

I used to read in my Bible that "the Joy of the Lord is my strength." For the longest time I thought that meant that God was going to make me happy. But if that were so, why was Paul the Apostle challenged with so many difficulties? And why did he choose to be happy in prison, or when faced with persecution? Because he understood that joy was a choice and that he could make that choice and nobody could take it away from him. Wow! Who needs to go around the world to find a new land? This is enough discovery to last a very long time. How silly to waste even a moment of the days I am granted. I choose to greet the sunrise with a smile, and to breathe a prayer of thanks for another day.

Each and every one.