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I took my 5 year old son, Ryan to a professional basketball game (PBA). He was enjoying the game for the first 2 quarters. However, when half-time hit, there were hawkers that were selling all kinds of stuff – from Pizzas to Pepsi, ice tea to ice cream.

One particular item caught my son’s attention… cotton candy.

He asked me to buy it. Wanting to be a kind and generous father, I got him one so he can enjoy the game while eating it. But as the game progressed, I noticed that he was more consumed about his cotton candy than the game that was actually pretty exciting.

I thought about how sometimes we start off wanting to live our lives for God but along the way, we get distracted. We’re excited, we’re focused and we know why we’re there. But stuff comes along and we lose our focus.

I guess that’s exactly why God, no matter how generous a Father He is, doesn’t give us everything we ask for right at the moment we ask for it. He knows we’ll end up focusing on the blessing more than the Blesser.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith… (Hebrews 12:2)

A lot of life is based on the decisions we make… what to do, what to eat, what to wear, who to go with, WHO to serve, when to do what we need to do.

I have yet to hear a telephone receptionist lash out on a caller right off the bat, though I am sure it has happened before. S/he comes to work and decides to be good at what she does – greeting, giving instructions, forwarding calls undergirded by the fact that she has to be nice and cheerful. This has to happen whether she’s had a bad day or not.

Everyday, we have an opportunity to choose. We can start it deciding that it would be a great day (whether it ends up being a good one or not but still learning from every moment) or get sidetracked into misery by every unfortunate mishap.

Tim Hansel made a comment in his book years ago that never left me ever since. He said, “Pain is inevitable but misery is optional.” Deep breath… read it again… “Pain is inevitable but misery is optional.”

Happiness is based on “happenings” but joy goes deeper than that. You can have joy in the midst of the toughest circumstances in life.

There will always be stuff to ruin our day. The question is not what happens to us but how we respond to what happens to us. That marks a leader and a disciple.

Choose joy.

The joy of the Lord is our strength. (Nehemiah 8:10)

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