No matter how foul, ragged or sour my mood is, if I walk into the house and my baby girl smiles at me – my mood has to reconcile that. If she smiles for any period of time my mood doesn’t have a chance. I will have caught the bug, the virus, the contagion called joy. That is a contagion worth catching this Christmas. So here are 3 practical questions that will help your mind get infected with joy . . .

1. What’s right in my life? Take inventory – shelter, heat, food, Jesus, freedom, transportation, etc. Then get specific and creative to write those things down. So many complain about cold, but what if we were so thankful for heat, that cold is just a reminder of how good we have it?
2. What’s right with the people in my life? This question can be asked about literally every relationship in our life. We could even pick the person that tends to irritate us and ask this question and watch our perspective change. Don’t try to love the unlovable, realize God’s truth that no one is unlovable. Holy Spirit in you knows exactly how to love everyone.
3. What can I do right now to bless someone? Take a minute right now, engage with Holy Spirit for someone, listen or see what He has for them. Then text or facebook message them. Right now. For real. Go for it . . .

We don’t bless in order to feel good about ourselves. We bless because Jesus has been so good to us – we give love out of the overflow of our heart.

“When they saw the star, they rejoiced with joy that was overwhelmingly awesome!” (Matt. 2:10 – my translation, but that’s what the Greek says – haha)

This was the scene of a dance party from a bunch of stuffy intellectuals – can you imagine? How wonderful! They saw the star moving, then stop – so they were in the right place! They were about to see the joyful baby, the King! We have the joy of Jesus flowing out through us this Christmas that can turn even the stuffiest scrooges into dance partiers.