Attitude of Gratitude and Joy

Transcript

it's it is uh at times it can be saddening to hear

uh

circumstances like our our brother Bob um when he's up against our brother Jack

um and even

um you know the Canon family and what they are enduring now uh and and in the context of seemingly uh the news that we are experiencing

it has been a focus of mine lately of how

we go about uh collectively

um

pursuing Joy maintaining a state of Joy so uh to that end does anyone any any young parents uh on right now does anyone know who this character is by chance

any takers on this one

joy joy all right that's Joy here we go um and I'm not a young parent

that's exactly right so

um you know that's from the movie Inside Out it has a really good explanation of of you know sadness and joy and that balance of how do we how do we balance these emotions uh and we talk about balancing of emotions uh first and foremost I want to talk about the two differences between uh specifically happiness and joy

and I have to ask does anyone know the difference do they want to a shout out how do you differentiate happiness and joy

Nate I would say that uh happiness is kind of based on your circumstances when things are

are uh

um going well for you but joy is something deeper within that can endure through

difficult more difficult situations maybe I don't know

um you can still have joy in the midst of trial and difficulty

first

explore uh the definition from a scientific standpoint and then we're going to dive into the spiritual as well but

um all three of those responses was was spot on as far as the differentiation happiness is an emotion right it's it's essentially it's based on a simple cause and effect whereas as joy and I this is amazing because this is from the American uh Psychological Association but the way that they explain this is kind of it definitely has like this um spiritual component to it it's a feeling of extreme gladness Delight or exultation of the spirit arising from a sense of well-being or satisfaction the feeling of Joy may take two forms passive and active all right so we have passive Joy involves tranquility and feeling of contentment where things are

and then active Joy involves a desire to share one's feelings with others associated with more of an engagement of the environment uh than passive Joy

the distinction between passive action Joy may be related to the intensity of the emotion as it continues on with active Joy representing the more intense form uh both forms of Joy are associated with an increase in energy and feelings of confidence and self-esteem

so in some like happiness it's reactive emotion based on a stimulus Joy is a conditioned mindset

for your health nuts out there I almost think of Happiness as sugar right it's that quick hit whereas uh Joy maybe we'll say it's whole grain uh we should be conditioning ourselves for enduring Joy not just pursuing the next hit of happiness because as we just talked about like there's a lot of circumstances that our brothers and sisters are enduring there's a lot of circumstances out in the world that can be disheartening

and we also experienced this from a scriptural standpoint as well it's interesting because when you look at happy it occurs 28 times in 25 verses

but the circumstances and especially in the New Testament Greek uh the wording is it's foundationally more like blessed than happy as we know it so like when we see circumstances of happy and I was looking through some of these uh it was it really was more of a the context of a blessing and hopefully this link works we'll see could be an adventure here

um

so this is just a a quick but Shameless plug for uh Blue Letter Bible definitely a great resource that I've been able to use in the the Lexicon around uh Joy specifically and when you see happiness we can ultimately pull that up as well

um that's really more so

um

in the context of uh blessings right so this is this is happy uh that we're seeing here and

um blessed happy and you see all the the context of it it's usually just blessed Amino it's you see them Beatitudes it's more so a um a circumstantial type of emotion

where we see Joy and um Brian if if you want to jump in on the Old Testament here more than happy to fill the void with Brian Lloyd

um because I've I've really I focused on the new uh the Greek side no knowing that um there is seemingly a significant array of uh Joy within

um the Hebrew do you do you want to have a quick uh do you have any takes on on how Joy is presented because I was actually frankly surprised at the different variations of Joy within the Hebrew

anything worth sharing from your perspective Brian

um nothing really that uh earth-shattering that I can share I mean some of the words are

um

familiar and yeah but yeah I don't have anything deep to share or anything understood understood and maybe David could help out here well I feel like every time every time I do a I look at the Old Testament in the Hebrew you come out with some some fantastic insights after the fact I was like I wish I had that on the spot that was amazing um so David well one comment that I that I would make uh even if you don't know any Hebrew you don't have to all you need to know is you look at this list and this is this is true it's there you can see it for a language that is really spare in vocabulary that's a lot of the of a lot of uh I guess

synonyms or near meanings this is not the way Hebrew usually operates uh it doesn't it has a lot of words for this and I would say an unusually uh a lot of words for nasty things too like destruction and and breaking apart and things like that but this this is a significant for uh a language that usually makes has one word that serves at all kinds of purposes here you have the opposite case right it's like the Eskimo is having so many words for ice

I guess so so it sounds like yeah the Hebrew language is uh oriented around both extremes of Destruction but also the joy which is which is really interesting um

yeah I was just gonna say a few I mean one thing that does jump out of me there's there's a number of names like Hebrew names that I'm familiar with that you know come from some of these like uh arena is a typical girl's name uh shoshana another girl's name

um

uh I don't know Gila David probably I don't remember the translation of like Hava Nagila but is that is that uh that word David that was up there yeah so come let us rejoice yeah yeah yeah

and have this that's actually that's the first lines got the two words uh

is that first line

is about what it says the same crowd down there uh eight zero five six or eight zero five five

as a common word I mean a holiday seems cut Torah that's um the joy joy of the Torah

um and yeah it's a comp very common uh word good word fantastic and it seemingly also in the Greek there's you know quite the variation as well um but the one that really as far as applications to scripture

um this uh 5479 this uh Chara

um really was was Amplified as far as or say Cara

um you know this cheerfulness calm Delight gladness uh Joyful Joyful uh fullness and we see some of these you know great uh applications that uh that come to light and our brother Richard even you know already uh spoke to one but Matthew 25 uh

into the Lord uh fear not behold I'll bring you good tidings and great joy group two

um everyone just think about that in the nativity scene right that the birth of Jesus uh Luke 15 likewise I say unto you there is a great there's joy in the presence of the angels of the Lord the angels of God over the one sinner that repenteth

um in continuing you know this is kind of two variations of the same word here uh in John 3 he that hath the bride is the bridegroom but the friend of the bridegroom standeth and hearth and rejoices greatly because the bridegroom's voice this is my joy therefore it's fulfilled so two applications of the same group Greek word and again John 15 these things I've spoken to you that my joy might remain in you that your joy might be full

to do on uh Acts 20 but none of these things move me you need to count I my life

dear unto myself so that I might finish my course with joy not the ministry which I received Lord Jesus Testify the gospel the grace of God my brother Steve had a fantastic prayer to start when he's talking about the endurance you know finishing my course with joy Hebrews 12 look into Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith who for the joy Brother Richard that was set before him endure the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God so you see this it's it's not just a a circumstantial emotion but this is a this is a um a way of being which really uh is is profound and and we have to look now uh part of it is you know looking at how do we sustain this how do we sustain Joy uh because you know Joy occurs 165 times uh in the King James version where you see pain is only 25 times uh

and that's that's something that there's there is you know Joy is a very much a prevalent concept within scripture

and I was really interested in understanding how can we exert a practice to maintain and sustain Joy

and one of the interesting comments that was was brought during this uh

this whole discussion

um was the interlying relationship between joy and gratitude as I was researching Joy how do we maintain joy we actually realized that gratitude is the foundational vehicle in which we can maintain or Flex the mental muscle of joy and one of the key takeaways that I read in my research was the key to misery is to look at your hardship and ask why me

the key to Joy is to look at your blessings and ask the same question

so we talk about joy talk about gratitude I'll repeat that again the key to miseries look at your hardship and ask why me the key to Joy is to look at your blessings and ask the same question

so I'm searching for Joy I'm trying to understand even from like a scientific standpoint how do we approach Joy how do we create a a practice of joy and as mentioned uh

to maintain a state of Joy regardless of circumstances from both a spiritual and a scientific approach we first and foremost have to understand gratitude and understand that it is the vehicle in which we have sustain Joy so a great in edifying uh

talk on this uh podcast and it's also on YouTube uh is a I guess you call it a dissertation uh from Dr Andrew huberman professor of neurobiology and Ophthalmology at Stanford University School of Medicine uh so this lab focuses on neurogeneration neuroplasticity stuff I couldn't even you know barely pronounce their mind spell

um brain states of distress fear of Focus Optical performance so he was talking about this which is a great uh listen as I was actually driving over up North with with the family and we it was a it was a great opportunity to condition uh the state of joy as I'm learning that vacation with three kids under three isn't so much a vacation as it is just keeping three kids alive in someone else's house uh so it was definitely a very timely research for me and I hope it's a a timely topic for everyone else as well so Dr huberman points to uh in the scientific Community what is some groundbreaking research and we'll actually explore that in reality uh scripturally this is this is nothing new this is something that we are designed to have a correlation between gratitude and joy and uh scripture actually brings us together for us but there's a studies that they'll talk about the fact that gratitude is an important aspect of human uh

The Human Condition essentially this is this is a study done by University of Southern Cal

uh in 2015 and it talks about the fact that they've actually established that gratitude leads to benefits for both mental health and interpersonal relationships so they've conducted experiment which induce uh gratitude and participants and they've actually looked at magnetic Imaging of the the brain understood brain scans into how does the brain react when expressing gratitude and the results reveal that the ratings of gratitude collided with brain activity um and so ultimately what it boils down to is that

there is positive emotions that accompany the experience of benefiting from Goodwill of others so when we experience gratitude there's actually a legitimate response in our brains that have

um profound impacts to our well-being so they go on and so the the actual stimuli that was used to elicit gratitude the uh subjects had to listen to stories of the Holocaust right great immense

heartbreak Devastation

um it's essentially the lowest one of the lowest points of all humanity and

they also understood that you know there's these uh survivors of the Holocaust that told these stories of survival and these stories of gratitude you know there was a one that stuck out was

um a woman Holocaust Survivor that said she couldn't see for three years because the Nazis just broke her glasses she could not see and she was overcome with emotions of Joy when one of the Allied liberating soldiers gave her his glasses

and she put those glasses on for the first time and could actually see for three years and this was like overwhelming to her and what's interesting is they tracked it's neural Imaging and track the people that were hearing these stories and the reality of it was is that um there was this immense positive emotion that was that was being tracked within the brain and that it's actually tracked to

um well-being which we'll get into um you know what what that ultimately means uh for us and what the incentive is for us what the why is around why we want to establish a gratitude practice of Our Own so this was like groundbreaking scientific research but if you look at scripture this huge correlation between uh appreciation and joy so we have some examples here uh the psalmist Psalm 77 rejoice in the Lord be righteous and give thanks and Remembrance for his Holiness Nehemiah 12. uh this is the dedication right and so the dedication of wild truce when they sought the Levites and their places to bring to them Jerusalem to celebrate with dedication of gladness and Thanksgiving with singing and symbols Harps and liars and they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoice for God made them almost compel them to Rejoice great joy and the women and children also Rejoice the joy of Jerusalem Was Heard far away so we see that gladness that Thanksgiving that component of of compulsion of rejoicing that that's uh coming from a sense of gratitude of being able to re-establish the walls of Jerusalem uh and then first Thessalonians 3 and 9. for what things can we render to God again for you for the all the joy we're with we joy for your sakes before our God so there's there's a distinct correlation here

Dr human he he distills those

um those really prolific studies I try my best to read through them uh kids in the background and uh you know not not my my foray really so if there's any uh neuroscientists here if you want to take over this slide you're more than welcome to uh if not I will do my best to stumble through this

um but you know Dr huberman talks about the fact that the Nate the main neural modulator social gratitude practice and pro-social behavior is serotonin that's like the reward Behavior Uh and there's two uh major brain areas are activated with gratitude the medial prefrontal cortex and the interior uh cognitive cortex now I don't know much about the frontal lobe the only time I had to do a dissertation on the frontal lobe was when I was writing an apology letter to the principal of Cumberland High School uh for jumping off the roof of the high school and I had to explain how prolifically sorry I was for escaping mid in mid-class

um in jumping off you know from the second floor walking out of the essentially jumping out of the window and then jumping off of the roof and uh I remember they brought me into the uh Vice principal's office and were of course on the personal basis at this point he's like oh actually called me last name usually Susie what were you thinking like were you just looking up looking at me looking up what were you thinking I said you know I I just uh I don't know I want I wanted to see if it you know the case was never an emergency if you know could be done you know just trying to work my way out of it I had to write an apology but wrote a profuse apology letter you know I'm so sorry and then the post the mail frontal lobe which is in charge of decision making is not fully mature until mid 25 and that was my scientific explanation to my stupidity and you know once you're presented with that you're like oh okay so you know that was that was a nugget that my mom you know she I think she tried to you know at least come for her own self with her son's stupidity by being like maybe there's hope when he's in his mid-20s hopefully maybe for an excuse after they're 25 no no excuses then you're locked in yeah you're you're

no but it's so not only is it in charge of decision making what we're learning here

um is that it's also in charge of giving us context around experiences in life it allows us uh to create

um a level of not only just we're saying something gratitude but empathy it allows us to empathize with people and there's actually as part of this is a great study that was done

um around a video that kind of shows the enlightenment of the frontal lobe where you know subjects were shown a video of a kid running around um this this classroom and then putting keys in a desk right and runs out and then an adult starts looking you know comes in afterwards and starts looking around and

those that have that developed frontal lobe were able to identify that adult in all likelihood is looking for those keys and that's something that is really distinct to the human brain now this is what's really interesting though gratitude is a minus that activates the prefrontal cortex and it sets the context for our experiences it's a context for how we experience life

this is really important

um so it allows us you know for example uh there's also shown like substantial benefits of you know your immune system and your inflammation if you're taking uh ice baths or cold showers and that's something that it allows you to contextualize hey this this pain this this kind of uh agitation of a cold shower is is actually beneficial for you so it provides you a context to say this pain or this negative response your body is experiencing is actually a net benefit for you so it's it's really important

um and so this is something that gratitude essentially is a way that we can Flex the mental muscle of the prefrontal cortex in a way that provides us more empathy and it provides us actually a lot more than just empathy it's called um and anti-social Behavior so our front our frontal lobes is in charge of either uh essentially choosing you know the kind of um and this is something that the scientists believe is is really a a mechanism you know for our own Survival of you know is this a is this a hug or is this a fight you know what what am I running into uh in a manner of words and gratitude practice is a pro-social behavior which means it allows us to be more effective in interactions with ourselves so this is a big one with ourselves and others have an effective gratitude practice can have large positive effects on physical and mental health incorporating gratitude practice one to three times a week can have long lasting impact on self-reported well-being so our brains are a seesaw of these pro-social behaviors that we see and these offensive behaviors that keep us safe and we have the capacity for happiness and great concerns based on how we condition our gratitude practice

furthermore this is this is a pretty so that was we looked at one study the other study that Dr human uh brought to light was a gratitude practice decreases inflammatory cytogens uh assault something what it means is you know the inflammation in our body is actually reduced when we have a continued gratitude practice and then here's uh some really interesting elements right so some benefits of the proper graduate practice resilience to Trauma from even prior experience this has actually been used to alleviate PTSD

um in soldiers inoculation from trauma later on in life by shifting fear networks so you have resilience from past mental scars and you have conditioning for future it also enhances uh social relationships in a personal and professional life and it shifts the pro-circle uh pro-social circuitry in the brain it activates circuits in the hearts and lungs associated with breathing so when people actually experience this and when they're when they're put in for studies it's actually shown to be a positive impact not only in our brains but also in our bodies really really incredible stuff and I look at this and I was like you know how is the creation of not only the human body but the human mind how could you ever look at this and say this is an accident

but it It yields a question right so we we've talked about the benefits now I have to ask the uh the the collective uh what does a effective gratitude practice look like

um made sure as part of Prayer in my mornings

um try to really emphasize the things I'm thankful for and I almost kind of started with like a circle of you know the

you know my almost kind of

my inner family out in like a kind of a rotating circle of gratitude you know just keep zooming out from like the the micro to the macro and that's that's truly what most responses are is that you know it's a list of you know what you're thankful for

here's the plot twist and here's the aha moment as far as the science behind this scientifically speaking

that invigoration of the frontal lobe the the mental the flexing of the mental muscle that allows us to weigh heavily more heavily on those pro-social behaviors

it's not actually writing down what we're thankful for

it's the receipt there's two different options it's the receipt of gratitude genuine gratitude from someone else right so you have to you have to first earnestly give something you know it's not like hey you know my wife bought me the shirt I don't like the way it looks here I have it you guys like thank you yeah you're welcome like it's not it's not anything casual it's like hey I made this for you I took time to make this for you and someone's like you know this really is making a difference

but then here's here's the blessing and this is this is incredible because the science backs this up that you can also vicariously experience gratitude

so uh directly received guided right examples letter of thanks you know text hey I really appreciate this

um or just that that connection before or after memorial service you know talking to a brother or sister what do you think what have they done you're genuinely thankful for

um and we have the wholeheartedly give the receiver to feel uh gratitude

but here's this is this is the really exciting one about the vicariously experience and gratitude so the scientific studies point that reading or hearing stories uh Association or experiencing empathy or sympathy for someone who received help

as actually giving those pro-social neurons that that fire up so we talked about um survivors of the Holocaust and there's also a study that was done where

scientists tracked the heart rate and the breathing rates of subjects who were reading a novel and there was a stink correlation with the increased heart rate and breathing rates based on how the protagonist was contending with the antagonists and so we actually have a biological response to uh story

and this is you know the bad news of all this is that you can't manufacture your joy through you know the unfortunately that practice that I've that I've probably sunk five six years into the good news is first and foremost you can virtually spread Joy right that that good mental and physical benefit of joy by spreading gratitude

you can by spreading appreciation so if you you buy the more articulate you are of your appreciation the more you can spread joy to your brothers your sisters or whoever you interact with the cashier you know your your Lyft driver whoever your teachers your co-workers whoever it is you can be the Catalyst for Joy by spreading gratitude as a vehicle

but then that's the good news but here's the amazing news even if you're not receiving gratitude in your daily interactions science has proven you can achieve Joy by harnessing our gratitude through Reading scripture

unlike other practices does mediation or uh breath work the positive effects of gratitude practice are felt almost instantaneously so 60 to 90 seconds after practicing gratitude make a sustained uh making it sustainable to incorporate it regularly so

uh

this is a great opportunity God essentially wired our brains to read scripture and look at whatever the characters enduring and experience gratitude vicariously

through that character that can provide these immense mental and physical benefits I mean this is just profound stuff this is really where we can condition our Joy by being intentional with gratitude we can condition our joy to be more resilient

so I uh

I I had to do it I had to make a acronym because frankly otherwise I I lose I lose um any type of memory uh I don't know you know too many hits to the Head uh I don't know but I it's one of those things that if I don't if I don't make an acronym for it I'm gonna lose it so I distilled my learnings into

um safe you know we think about gratitude think about safe you know you can think about it keeping you safe you can think about it locking this up in your heart as a safe but what's safe uh ultimately boils down to as an acronym

struggle what was the challenge of that character

right and within when we're reading scripture Aid how did God help

and and please be be mindful of this because after this like I'm I'm done with my Wednesday night class I'm turning it over to uh all of you brothers and sisters so so get ready uh have your pens out be ready be ready to go for this f is feel how did the characters Express gratitude to God

and experiences how can we apply this to our own experience how can we make it sticky

and then repeatedly reflect on the story and really connect with it for a few minutes and scientifically this has been shown to be one of the best mechanisms for us to exercise gratitude vicariously that ultimately is conditioning our minds more Pro social more empathetic more leaning towards Joy our default can be Joy when we go through this and what the science has proven is that you really only have to do it um they say that minimum three times a week

um you know ideally we do this daily but we're going to go through a couple examples and then ultimately my hope is

um you know we have we have enough time that we can actually go through um some other character studies uh

after the fact so I'll just jump right into this one this is this is my easiest one uh as far as someone that I connect with I always I've always been challenged growing up I just like Zone up or doing the readings like you know most of the Old Testament did not did not Captivate me I remember even my teenage years right my lowest spiritually King David was always someone that I paid attention to and like was just locked in I don't know if it's you know the the young boy thinking about you know the David and Goliath and even the warrings the Jonathan's I I see uh uh I I guess I have to say sister by I always think uh Bonnie growing up you know my my Sunday school anytime she was talking about King David I would finally shut up and listen you know it was actually I was actually paying attention we were talking King David because as a character um just immense struggle like the whole way through right I mean even as a as an outcast to his brothers one of eight you know like I you know his father you know Jesse I've ran out of sons oh I guess I have this at the youngest I mean he's out you know with the Sheep I don't you you know you want to you want to look at him you think he's King you know he was he was his brothers thought you know they thought he was just stirring things up when when he went and visited them I mean you know you just think about even before we get to some of the more cinematic stuff just the context of him you know killing the the lion you know just David and his adolescence was just such an incredible story and then the the whole story just ramps up from there so when I think of David's struggle it doesn't matter what circum you know unfortunately I'm not really uh slinging rocks at any Lions literally these days uh but maybe there's a metaphorical one that I can relate to and then I think about how how God could God help so there's a lot of instances um within David's struggle just in his adolescence that I related to in my adolescence um but now I think about David's uh struggles you know even the Middle Ages now uh I'm not being pursued by my boss we'll say um you know he's not he's not actively pursuing me enough to get me and

um but there's there's definitely some contention that

if you look at the safe model and then apply it to Psalms are you know first and second Samuels you can really elicit some great opportunities for gratitude that we can tap into so we talk about how how can God help and we'll we'll look at I'll read second Samuel 22. this is the my only one I'm gonna do and then afterwards I'm turning it over to the crowd so

um brothers sisters by all means whoever wants to jump in next is more than welcome to but

um David expresses this is a great example of David's

um gratitude right so second Samuel uh 22 for the sake of time because we I want to get through a couple of these I won't read the the entire chapter but if you look at this safe paradigm throughout the entire chapter of second Samuel uh 22. I mean honestly all the Psalms in all Samuel it's it really is a great exercise in gratitude but uh we'll read through this quickly and and David spake to the Lord the words of the song on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul he said the Lord is my rock my force my deliverer my God my rock and whom I take refuge my shield the Horn of my salvation my stronghold my refuge My Savior you saved me from violence continue on 36. you have given me the shield of your salvation and your gentleness I love this your gentleness may be great

you gave a wide place for my steps under me and my feet did not slip

continue on Authority for you equip me with strength for battle you made those Horizons against me sink underneath me 44 you delivered me from Strife my people you kept me in the head of the Nations people whom I had not known served me 49. who brought me out of my for my enemies you exalted me above those who Rose against me delivered me from Men of violence for this I will praise you

the Lord among the Nations and sing praises to your name great salvation he brings to his King and shows steadfast love to his anointed to David and his offspring forever

so we might not have you know sword and shield building enemies you know but he talks about David he talks about internal strife you know maybe we have internal family conflicts he talks about you know those who are against him you know maybe we have challenges at work that this can relate to you know I can I can relate this to my own experience

you know maybe it's his own internal challenges with guilt you know of what uh occurred

um you know the the whole story of Delilah

um there's

there's so much here that

David's story

uh that that really you can you can peel from so uh

as far as my own experience uh I think that's you know King David is one that I can I can really relate to uh for a lot of different reasons and so and so when I think of it I read of words of I get a little bit of feedback here but when I when I read of you know his gratitude

if we personally you know vicariously look at the the just the you know the the sheer Joy

um that David has and expressing the gratitude for his slew of challenges his slew of struggles uh that is actually something that we can now condition our minds

um for gratitude and ultimately for joy

so the next one that comes to mind is is Jonah maybe it's because I've been reading way too many uh kid Bible stories for night time and Jonah's just like a classic because you know every cartoonist can draw a guy getting eaten up by the whale uh but it is it's a great it's a great relatable one

um does anyone want to

take on the story of Jonah you know talk about just a quick synopsis of the stuff the struggle uh quick synopsis of how God helped

um how don't Express gratitude you know and like I gave a you know quick synopsis here of kind of some of the um how he was able to thank God but then ultimately how this can be applied to our own experiences you know who's someone that right now is being swallowed by a a whale who's someone that

um wants to go the opposite direction in Innova you know maybe not literally but does anyone want to give a crack at uh

exercising and answering some of these uh this the safe questionnaire so to speak for the story of Jonah

rich

come on Rich are you letting the fire in the backyard or could you could you handle this one

so what do you what do you want a synopsis of it a quick a quick synopsis I think we can all talk about the struggle right but yeah so so the thing with Jonah is you know is that a time of Israeli expansion so they were really doing well and the Assyrians were looking to come down into Israel so this was a perfect opportunity you know for uh you know the Assyrians to get you know wiped out by God and Jonah didn't want to go because you know we love this country and so he goes through all these trials and tribulations

um and he's very thankful obviously when he gets you know spewed out uh you know by the fish

um but then you know he's he's back to his bad attitude because you know the gore to the you know the little tree that he was under you know died of you know a worm or something like that so it just you know there was a lot going on with Jonah you know he it was um you know I think he he had General on genuine love and care for for his country but he tried to kind of manipulate God's word of God's Will and because he tried to do that he got himself into a lot of trouble and

um you know I think there's a lesson there for us as well you know we we can try to manipulate situations in our lives that may uh may not be the path that God wants us to be on I know that's you know that's happened a few times in my life

um you know there's an old saying if you want to hear God laugh tell him your plans you know we all have these plans that we're going to do and we all have you know uh you know Jonah had a plan

um but you know his plan did not coincide with God's plan and at the end of the day God's will will be done not only in our lives but in uh the lives of everyone on this world

we appreciate that

um that's exactly it and it's interesting because Rich you mentioned kind of what transpired after Jonah too if I do think it's interesting that

um

you know Jonah we talked about this prayer from the belly of the fish and I called out to the Lord out of my distress and he answered me out of the belly of Shield I cried and heard my and you heard my voice for you cast me to the deep into the heart of the Seas and the floods surrounded me and all your ways your Billows passed over me then I said I am driven away from your sight yeah I shall again look upon your Holy Temple

the waters closed in over me to take my life to deep surrounded me weeds were wrapped about my head roots in the mountains I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever yet you brought me up

my life in the pit oh Lord my God but my life was fainting away I remember the Lord my prayer came to you into your Holy Temple those who pray regard to Vain Idols forsake their hope instead of fast love but I with the voice of Thanksgiving will sacrifice you what I have vowed I will pay salvation Belongs to the Lord the Lord spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land this instance of the fish in my own life uh I think of in college my freshman year uh I was you know none of us that way I was the complete opposite I was just reveling and and all that college had to offer and

um I ultimately was hospitalized with a platelet count that it just couldn't even really explain how I wasn't just bleeding out um they couldn't measure it essentially which is

um

crazily low and it brought me low and that was my metaphorical you know swallowing of

um

you know the the fish you know and I uh had that prayer in my hospital bed when I was hospitalized for almost a week

um saying like you know if I get out of this um okay you know I will uh

I will walk in the way intended I I knew what direction I needed the head I was just in the complete opposite so you know that's something I can I can look at in my own experience

and then understand you know through the appreciation that Jonah has the gratitude that Jonah has to God for allowing him to get out of this I can then relate and you know solicit this back to my own experience of my own appreciation for for surviving

um that that very Touch and Go dynamic as a as a college freshman so yeah very um

when I look at this perspective it really does bring these passages to life you know it's no longer just a casual oh this is just like this is intermediate you know the remedial children's starter pack of Bible stories you know this is this is something that really resonates

it was I would say before before uh little Nora was born it was a lot more stringent we're I think we're getting back into equilibrium um but

the there is there is some some science base to it too and it's it's a great it's a blessed opportunity to do it actually right now in June if we want to talk about kind of the the impact of a morning routine if you don't have a wife that's very sensitive to sunlight um great a great ideal is to actually sync your your sleep up with the Circadian rhythm keep a window open let the 5 a.m sunlight if you can if you can let that wake you up naturally uh go outside actually get that that uh vitamin D go out and actually get sunlight and if you can be barefoot ground yourself in the the morning dew uh there's actually the scientific benefits of that as well are you getting a little earthy crunchy honestly I know I don't get your granola out get your scripture in right get your story whatever it is that you you know this is this is kind of your ideal environment right get kinetic right off the bat uh get grounded and actually um get your scripture out in in that environment this is this is frankly how this is like my ideal

um that that's I think works best for me as far as orienting my my Paradigm properly for the day and then get your scripture out and actually talk through before it was it was that prayer of kind of circular gratitude

um but now it's it's going to be more around that that safe principle for whatever their readings have you know how can I apply the the safe principle within the context of of the waypoints of our daily readings