No Twit, Just JOY!

Myself, Carolyn and Bobbi
Jingle Bell Ball 2012
Reach Community Church

Friday night I attended the Jingle Bell Ball at Reach Community Church.  We had great food, fellowship, karaoke, laughs, and dresses, but the best part was the guest speaker....I unfortunately don't remember her name, but she is a public speaking professor, and so of course her speaking ability was exceptional.  However, as much as I can get caught up in the speaking style and such, since I was a communications major, it was not what stuck with me Friday night.

The message---JOY!  She talked about something that all women for sure can relate to, but I think a lot of men can too!  Do you ever feel like you just can't let something small in life go, it just bugs you and you cannot stop thinking about it, worrying about it, fretting over it, trying to figure out what to do about it, etc.  Well, our guest speaker(still not remembering her name!), called that a twit....now, I was a little worried, because that didn't sound like a very nice word, but she of course, in true public speaking fashion, gave us the definition of twit.

She had a great definition, but I cannot find the same anywhere on the internet...and I thought everything was out there(and true--NOT). What I found was that a twit is a confused or excited state. She described similarly as being hyper-focused on something.  We often get into a twit about something, and we cannot seem to focus on anything else, much less the goodness and joy that is around us.

As a stay at home mom and wife, I seem to get into little twits a lot!  Laundry twits, dish twits, toy twits, behavior or manner twits, lack of time to myself twits, etc....but our guest speaker...Stacy maybe??....helped me to see that when I get into a twit about something that I miss out on joy.

What is joy? The emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying, a state of happiness.

Stacy?....hmm, still not sure....shared the verses from Hebrews 12:1-3: And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Jesus shows us the perfect situation of not being in a twit, but rather finding joy.  If I compare my daily twits to the situation Christ faced, death on the cross, I feel rather silly. Christ did what He did because of the joy that was before Him....the joy of knowing that this was His Father's plan and that it would bring man and God together and that He would then sit at the right hand of His Father's throne. So, why should I let go of my daily twit's?  Is is God's plan for me?  Will I bring man and God together?  Will I sit at the right hand of my Father's throne?  No, no and depends. Definitely not in the exact way as that of Jesus, but similar.

If I am in a twit and it is effecting everything in my life, my attitude, my decisions, the way I treat others, then I am not in line with God and His plan for me.  I am not able to bring man and God together, because I am not joyful and trusting in God, so I cannot be a good witness for Him.  The reason I say that it depends for the answer to the last question, is because the only way any of us will be in heaven with our Father, is if we have a relationship with Jesus Christ.  We can get in a twit and still make it to heaven, but why would we sacrifice our joy here on earth for something that will not matter for eternity?

If I decide to focus on joy, on the things that I have and am blessed with, for the things that I am able to do, see, hear, be a part of and on the fact that I have a Father in heaven who wants the best for me and sent His son to die on a cross for my sins, then I will be able to be right with God and fully trust in His plan for me.  I can be in sync with God and His Spirit in my life. I will also be able to being man to God, because depending on my reaction to the possible twits in my life, people will be able to see that I trust God and I am choosing joy in all situations, and they will want that too.  That is when the gospel of Christ can be shared and a relationship for others can begin.  It I am focusing on the joy of life, then I don't have to ever let the devil put the thoughts of what if in my mind and heart, so I can rest assured that I will be in Heaven, seeing the throne of God!

In life there are twits that are much bigger than my little twits, and I have faced some of those too, and you probably have as well. Major illnesses, cancer, death of loved ones, divorce, depression, addictions, a sick child or parent...the list could go on.  Stacy....I hope that was her name...if it isn't I will correct it....I will find out for sure...had a child who had been born with some problems, and she and her husband made the decision that they needed to find joy and not be in a twit.  They decided to focus on all the good things about their child and the things that they had and could do and what their child would be able to do, instead of what they wouldn't.  That is a decision that can only be made with trust in God and His ultimate plan for those who have a relationship with Him.

I am not saying that I have the ability to always choose joy over a twit in the bag....actually quite the opposite.  But I am going to work on that, because life is just too short to be in a twit, and God is always in control, no matter how much we want to believe that we can control what happens.  I do know that what we can control is whether or not we choose to be in a twit and stay there, or whether we choose joy and live in the joy that God has given to us.  What will you choose?  I have decided what I will choose and it is my new motto!!!  No twit, just JOY!!!