| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Savor the time” Our Bible verse for today: “A joyful heart makes a face cheerful, but a sad heart produces a broken spirit.” Proverbs 15:13 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Choose joy” I’m a disciple of the contemporary philosopher Snoopy. I’m speaking of course of Snoopy the dog, from the Peanuts comic strip. Snoopy is indeed wise. He is observant and insightful, an astute student of the human condition, and as a result, he often has helpful advice for Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Pigpen, and me. Take for instance, the Snoopy Dance. Are you familiar with the Snoopy Dance? You should Google it. Seriously. Take a moment, type in the search bar “Snoopy Dance”, select the YouTube video that comes up, and enjoy. It will take less than a minute. What you’ll see is Snoopy dancing. Fast. Joyfully. His little paws are just pattering away (Snoopy stands and walks on two legs like humans). His head is back, his face is lifted to the sky, his eyes are closed, his arms (front paws) are extended wide, there’s a smile on his face, and he’s just dancing. He’s doing the Snoopy Dance. He’s thoroughly happy and joyful, and he doesn’t seem to have a care in the world. Now, the question is “What brought on such an expressive explosion of joyfulness?” And the apparent answer is “nothing”. In the scene there doesn’t seem to be any special reason for his joyful dancing other than that he decided to be joyful and dance. It kind of reminds me of Psalm 118:24, “This is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it.” Do we really need special reasons to be joyful? Can’t we simply embrace the moment and enjoy it for what it is, a gift from God? Can’t we simply choose to be joyful and then be intentional about expressing it? Seriously, take a moment and watch the Snoopy Dance. You’ll be glad you did. And if you’re having a down day and it’s tough to be joyful right now, then go one step further and watch the follow-on clip “Snoopy dances with the bunnies”. Snoopy was having a down day too but some dancing bunnies helped to draw him out of it. Maybe they’ll help you too. Or maybe, by doing your own version of a Snoopy Dance (you don’t really have to dance, just be joyful and express it), maybe by doing so you will end up being someone else’s dancing bunny and you’ll help them to be joyful too. I encourage you to choose joy today. Do your version of the Snoopy Dance. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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Many years ago, while walking down a crowded street, I noticed that almost every person around me was walking with their head down and at best a neutral expression on their face (and at worst, a frown). I tried an experiment. To the next person walking toward me, I said, “Good morning!” The person looked up with an astonished look on their face, which quickly turned into a smile. Since then, I’ve refined my method to be just a smile if the person happens to be looking up, and if they smile back, I say, “Good morning.” Maybe just for a moment, a person’s day has been brightened.