This morning, before dawn was offering its tell-tale hints along the eastern horizon, I stood on my front porch and looked at the sky.  As always, I found joy in looking at the stars.  This morning, there was a sliver of moon high up, and it made the stars hard to see until I stood there a bit.  Once my eyes became accustomed to the light, I found that I noticed more and more stars.  The more I looked, the more I saw, and the greater my joy became.  I am still smiling as I write this.  It is overwhelming to imagine the reality of those balls of fire at such incomprehensible distances, still sharing their light with this tiny planet so far away.

As I thought about my early-morning experience, I realized that it held the key to surviving in a world full of difficult circumstances and seemingly constant bad news.  I just had to focus on the right things.

One of my favorite verses in Scripture (and one of the most humbling) is found in Paul’s letter to the Philippians.  Chapter 4, often called the “joy chapter,” has a striking bit of advice in verse 8.  “Finally, brothers [and sisters], concentrate attention on whatever is true, as many realities as are sublime, as much as is righteous, all that is pure, as many actions as promote friendship, whatever is reputable. Use as your criterion whatever is virtuous, whatever is commendable.” (Phil. 4:8 MIT)

This is Paul’s secret to surviving all that he endured, from hatred and persecution to shipwrecks and imprisonment.  In one of his rare moments of admission, he names his short-list of difficulties in 2 Corinthians 3:23-28.  By his standards, most of us have had it fairly tame.  He could easily have gotten completely consumed by the terrible things in his life.  But he did not.  He chose to look at good things (especially his blessings in Jesus Christ), and the more he looked, the more he saw.

It’s all about focus.  What are we looking at?  Are we keeping our vision on good stuff or not-so?  I know I’ve had all kinds of struggles trying to keep my eyes on the true, sublime, righteous, etc.  My Facebook feed and my news sources cry out for my attention, and they have a huge portion of bad along with some good.  But when I choose to stay locked on the positive things that surround me, the more I see.  There will always be bad news, but there will also always be something good on which to focus.

Today, as I began, I intend to continue, looking at the beautiful and sublime.  I can’t see the stars right now, but I can certainly look for truth and purity.  I expect that the joy I found already will grow.  I also want to share it.

I invite you to join me.  Leave a comment here on my blog or on my Facebook feed, and let’s see how much of God’s goodness we can share in a few days.  Our joy will only be encouraged.