It's a Good Feeling

Today is Tuesday, the first day of the work week for me, since I work all weekend in a church music ministry, and take Mondays off. Monday has become a day to recover from the physical stresses-- hurting feet, cracked hands from clapping, sore arms and legs, and the weekly headaches-- and to do the basic domestic tasks-- cut the grass, fix the stopper in the sink, and this week put in a new curb side mail box in compliance with the USPS.

It's a glorious time in Tennessee, with cooler daytime temperatures and pleasant conditions for working outdoors. One project I have been eyeing is a huge downed branch in the alley behind our house. It belongs to a neighbor, but it is gigantically ugly and has even partially blocked the walkway back there. I just need a chain saw for that. So the mail box was the outdoor chore.

But this morning I feel content and actually looking forward to going to work. It's a complex feeling based on randomly alligned factors.

1. The mailbox is installed and looking good

2. My headache is gone

3. I have finished my outline for the 1-day Institute I'm teaching next Wednesday in Miami before the Christian Community Development Association convention.

4. I'm not mad at anybody and, as far as I know, nobody's mad at me

5. Last night was my daughter's birthday celebration so she and her family came over and my grandchildren were in a great mood.

I am responsible for my feelings. Sure, there are factors that govern how I feel, but I cannot blame anybody else for the way I feel. Many times I have negative feelings because I have unresolved relationships, or my feelings are based on powerlessness to change my circumstances.

So many times, I feel bad because I have not done something to support feeling good. Often I feel bad because I have forgotten the promises of God that are mine in Christ, and I am afraid of the forces around me that militate against my happiness.

My feelings are not the ultimate truth of my life. God's word and his sovereign reign over all is the foundation of truth for what is true. My feelings are my reaction to a relative comprehension of how that truth aligns with my shallow perception, and various physical constraints mixed in. Thank God for a good feeling this morning, and the variables that have contributed to it.