Day #2: Don't Forget the [Joyful] Thoughts...
[If you want to know how and why this devotional came into existence feel free to read this]
What you will need:
- A Bible
- This Devotional
- Some Coloring Utensils
- And a print out of this awesome coloring sheet designed by Nic Mansfield (Instagram and twitter)
Theme: Nostalgia (Self Reflection)
Passage for March 2nd 2017: John 16:16-24
Bars from “Same Drugs”:
“Don't forget the happy thoughts
All you need is happy thoughts”
A Thought:
A few years back I had a sadness that seemed unescapable. My first daughter had just been born, and I was frustrated my sadness was hindering me from experiencing the joy of being a new dad. I was looking for a way forward, so I sat down with a friend to try and find the root of my sadness. And as he peppered with me with questions, I discovered my sadness had a totalitarian effect on me. While I was in the thick of it, I couldn’t picture life without unhappiness. In a few chapters, when Jesus is crucified and buried, an oppressive sorrow will be the muck and mire through which the disciples are wading. This is why Jesus insisted on contextualizing the suffering on the other side of the horizon's crest.
For Jesus in John 19, this type of circumstantial sadness (this is distinctly different than clinical depression) operates like labor. It is difficult, but the outcome is birthing something new in them. As this newness enters the world, it floods them with a joy that cannot be stolen. Jesus, through his resurrection, is birthing a new and revolutionized world where lasting happiness and joy are continually available. The transformative joy which comes from Jesus’ resurrection roots why I love the connection of happiness and flight in “Hook.”
For Peter Panning, played by Robin Williams, having access to happiness gives him the fuel to fly (fittingly he roots this joy in his son Jack). Initially using happiness or joy to fly seemed to me like an escape mechanism enabling them leave their troubles behind. But this is not how it works in Hook. While flight does lifts them out of the muck and mire of their present situation initially, it brings them to a place where an adventure transforms them. And ultimately, it is joy fueled flight that brings Panning and his family back to their circumstance. However, they now face their life as people transformed by an adventure in Neverland, giving them resources to face their world afresh. “Don’t forget the Happy Thoughts” Chance reminds us because those are what lead to a transformative adventure setting us anew to confront the muck and mire of our present sorrow.
Here are the questions I am contemplating today: What am I sad about? Where did that come from? Where is my joy found, and how can God use that transformative happiness to face my circumstances?
Mediation: Psalm 100
Choose a verse or two from the Psalm that sticks out to you. As you color today, have a conversation with the Lord about what He is saying to you through those verses.