| Chedvah | Joy |

There are days in life that are sunny side up. You know, the ones where it's easy to choose simchah (joy|happiness|mirth) because life is smooth sailing, finances, relationships and jobs are going to plan and you feel as if you are living the dream and reaping the "desires of your heart". A hundred b'racha (blessings) each day are so easily offered up to the Father and indeed, choosing that joy is simple because in our human eyes, life is tov (good).  

But also in life, there are days full of loneliness, heartbreak, difficulty, transition, change and sadness. Challenges that rise up, causing the rubber to meet the road and this is where the real testing of our faith comes in. Can we run the race with endurance? Can we see that even in the storms of life, it is also tov? That in the difficulty rises an even greater opportunity for blessing and giving thanks? 

"Regard it all as joy, my brothers, when you face various kinds of temptations; for you know that the testing of your trust produces perseverance." James 1:2&3

 Some days we have to seek harder, look further and reach higher for Shalom (peace) and for Chedvah (joy). Joy is a choice; some days it comes easily while other days it needs to be worked for.

In the Jewish culture, it is custom derived from the Talmud to say 100 Blessings (b'racha) a day. It is a way of remembering the source of all goodness and cultivates a mindset of thankfulness. Speaking a b'racha establishes a person's proper perspective. It declares that YHWH is the King of the universe. He is blessed. He is praised. He is tov.

||Choosing joy is giving thanks||

Speaking life and blessing is choosing joy. It is actively deciding to focus on what we do have instead of what we don't. It is finding good in the mundane or even the loneliness and difficulty and elevating our perspective to recognize and see all the good in the world. It is acknowledging all of the daily gifts that are so easily taken for granted but indeed are miracles and wonders given each day. A new day of life, the ability to hear, speak, walk.

"I cried because I had no shoes, until I met a man that had no feet" - Author Unknown

Saying these 100 blessings a day, it cultivates ground for joy, it fosters a place for shalom and it transforms our eyes from seeing life as mundane and common place to a Spiritual perspective. A platform of hope. Choosing joy and being positive despite our circumstances is aligning our perspective to the Father's.

"In everything give thanks, for this is what G-d wants from you who are united with Messiah Yeshua." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

"Yah is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation." Exodus 15:2

"I will extol the L-rd at all times, his praise will continually be in my mouth." Psalm 34:1

Choose joy!

Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu!
Blessed are You, Adonai our G-d