St Mary's Prays
St Mary's prays for Thea and Brett Whittaker, Allirah and Matt Stewart and Hayden and Carla Whittaker and children Maive, Hendrix and Bronte on the passing of their mother, grandmother and great grandmother, Mrs Irene (Chick) Carkeek.
Please keep the families in your prayers.
This week we concentrate on the virtue of Joyfulness.
Joyfulness isn’t just feeling happy because something good has happened. It is a conscious decision to have a positive outlook in life, to find enjoyment in small things and to bring that joy to everyone around us. Sad or upsetting things are inevitably part of life, but joyfulness is possible even during your greatest challenges if you have a positive way of seeing things.
Joyfulness is found throughout the bible and is also reflected in Jesus' words in John 15:11 where he states, "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." By putting our faith fully in Jesus, we can find this joy and radiate it not only to others but for ourselves and bring inner contentment.
So, rather than practicing joy, we practice training our mind to notice joy. It does not matter how brief these moments are, if we focus on the positive, it will grow.
Not every day is a good day, but there is something good in every day.