Sunshine On My Shoulders

Okay, I may surely be risking the confiscation of my “Brother Card” on this one; but somehow this quote captured exactly what I was feeling after a week of still moving and cleaning stuff out of my old house while maneuvering around the droves of unpacked boxes in my new one, getting the kids prepared for the first day of school. It also seems quite obvious that I’ll be dealing with the ebbs and flows of an ugly divorce for the foreseeable future (well, maybe not full-blown ugly but definitely unattractive), and I could’ve about fallen over backwards when I found out how much it would cost to cut down the forest that surrounds my house. Whew! I think even Calgon would hide from me if it saw me coming down the street. …but I digress.

And now, a word from John Denver on writing the song “Sunshine on My Shoulders”

"I wrote the song in Minnesota at the time I call 'late winter, early spring'. It was a dreary day, gray and slushy. The snow was melting and it was too cold to go outside and have fun, but God, you're ready for spring. You want to get outdoors again and you're waiting for that sun to shine, and you remember how sometimes just the sun itself can make you feel good. And in that very melancholy frame of mind I wrote 'Sunshine on my Shoulders'."

Now I’m not here to dismantle John’s theology but he makes a clear point about our ability to choose our frame of mind. I’m sure you, just like me, have more than enough things in your life tugging away at your sense of joy and peace. Sometimes those things are so strong and we feel so bullied by life that we look up to God as if to question “Are you seeing this?” It’s at those times I thank God for His Word and His Work to give me the strength to focus my mind.

Here’s The Word;

2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Psalm 121:1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

Ephesians 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

Romans 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Ephesians 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

1 Corinthians 14:33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Ahhhhhhh… Calgon simply can’t compare to Christ! You see that there is a choice to make. And it’s not to deny the fact that into each life a little rain must fall, or the fact that sometimes ‘a little rain’ is more like a flash flood. But knowing that there’s a Father in Heaven who loves me (and you) dearly and not only desires for us to rejoice, but has provided for us VERY good reasons to. Maybe you’ll have to reach back into your memories a bit – or even better; reach forward to the Hope of Heaven where we’ll all walk around with the “Sunshine on our shoulders”.



In Him,
Cros