“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”             Romans 12:12 (NIV)

Do you ever have those days when you just think to yourself, “My heart just isn’t in it today”?

Possibly on the way to work, at church, with your chores, or just looking in the mirror? 

I do. Sometimes I don’t just think it. I say it out loud. I have even confessed it to others. 

Some days, I am just not invested in the task at hand. Deep down I want to be on fire and totally devoted to whatever I am doing. The quote on my signature line of my email sums it up: “Each day I wake up determined to change the world and have a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.” (paraphrased from E.B. White)

The truth is some days or at times I just don’t feel it. I am not sure why. That feeling – or lack of feeling – drives me crazy. I feel out of sorts, discombobulated. No sense of purpose. No sense of direction. I just go through the motions.

Sometimes those motions are slow – like I am walking in mud. Nothing is truly getting accomplished. I am meeting the minimum requirement to exist. Then at other times, everything moves in fast forward – hurrying from one thing to the next. Just checking off tasks from the list. During one of my whirlwinds, I can remember saying to my children, “Take as much time as you need, but hurry up!” My version of exercising patience, I guess. 

During those times, I just can’t find the meaning. I can’t find the joy. No one stole it from me. I just can’t locate it. I must have misplaced it. 

I begin to wonder if I have done something to cause this emptiness. Have I done something differently? Am I doing this all wrong? I get bogged down. 

Then just as suddenly as I lost heart, I remember – pray. I remind myself to pray. 

Pray for joy – pray to find the joy. And if not joy, peace. Pray for the kind of joy and peace that only comes from God. 

Today, have you misplaced your joy? Have you lost heart? Is your heart just not in “it” today? 

Pray. Pray about it. I guarantee you will be pleasantly surprised with the results.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”   Romans 15:13