Joy

I love to read. I have always loved to read, and probably will always love to read. However, I don't always feel as if I have the time and/or energy to read. So when my girlfriend gave me a book for Christmas, I was 90%thrilled, and felt 10% overwhelmed. "Oh", I thought, "another book to sit on my shelf and make me feel guilty". However, I was pretty excited about it, so I picked up The Power of a Praying Woman and began to read. This is such a wonderful book! It is exactly what I need and crave right now, and it is broken down into short, manageable chapters. Each section in only 5 pages or so, and I feel like I can sit down before bed, and accomplish a chapter before I go to sleep. I can read a section, read the prayer that goes with it, and then think about the next day.
Anyways, while I was reading this morning before work, I came across a particularly relevant paragraph. The chapter was talking about the control we have in our own lives to either be happy or not.
"All of us are planting something in our lives...we are also reaping whatever we have planted in the past...the quality of our lives right now is the result of what we planted...some time before." wow, how true is that?! And I kept reading, now totally enthralled and came across this passage...
"Joy has nothing to do with your circumstances. You can have joy in spite of difficult and painful problems..." That is exactly what I have been examining in my own life the past year or two. I have control over my happiness. If I want people to perceive me as a happy person, I have to show that I am a happy person. What a great book-