Gratitude and joy go hand in hand. Today, I was overcome with thankfulness that God has allowed me to work from home—which means that I look at this all day:
instead of this:
In the middle of my prayer, which went something like “Wow, thank You! Wow!”—I realized that I’ve never felt joy without being thankful, and I’ve never expressed gratitude without feeling joy. Maybe this is why Paul blessed the Colossians by saying, “May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father” (1:11–12, NLT).
I also decided that this is what joy/gratitude feels like, even when you’re 52: