How much future do you have inside you?  I know, maybe it’s a question without a definite answer, or one with a hopeful one. Maybe we might respond, “That’s clearly up to God,” and that is true because the Bible tells us in Psalm 139:16 that God recorded our number of days before there was even the first one.

Still, I wonder—-How many more, God?

How much future do I have in me?

How many more mornings will I arise to enjoy a new day?
Then, if we ponder how many more, naturally, it causes us to also consider the WHAT IFs of our future.

What IF Today were the final day, LORD? OR

What IF we were given 49 more years to arise, and we could live to the age of 103? AND

What IF we were given the opportunity to choose one emotion we would place onto our body, what would we choose?

What IF we saw today as our future, what would we wear for this one final day OR even for the next 49 years filled with todays?

WHAT Emotional Clothing would we pull from our closet IF we could only select one garment?

WHAT emotion would we choose as The One to clothe ourselves with for the duration of our remaining time on earth?
Really, that’s quite an easy answer to know to a heavy question (or I think so, at least).

IF I had to choose one emotional clothing to wear, I would reach into the closet and pull out a SMILE to wear, allowing the garment of eternal JOY to clothe me.

A few years ago (in 2015 or early 2016—I cannot exactly remember which month, so the actual year is fuzzy in my mind), there was a snowstorm that stopped us from venturing out to school, one that gifted us with a beautiful “snow day.”  That thought alone will bring a SMILE to every student’s face, especially a student who never experienced one before (that day).  On the snowy morning, I arose early and peaked outside to see a winter-white world.  Immediately I knew–“No School Today,” but like all, I went to check the ticker tape running along the bottom of the TV screen displaying the daily news, just to make sure, just to see this special gift of a snow day displayed in writing. Soon, those magical words:  “Pulaski County School—Closed” scrolled from left to right along the bottom of the TV screen, and I knew I would be the one to whisper the good news into the ears of my two sleeping girls down the hall.
It was early still yet, so I enjoyed the quiet of the morning, sipping my coffee and listening to the melodies that came from my earbuds.  It was not even close to their alarm time, so I did not awake them, but waited to share the joyous news.  An hour later, I opened, first Sydney’s door, quietly walking to whisper, “You can sleep longer this morning. It snowed last night, and there is no school today.” Then I moved to the next room, to Marieke, and whispered, “Honey it snowed last night. The roads are covered, so you get to sleep in today because there is no school. Today’s your very first snow day.”
Joy & A Smile filled her face. I could see it, even in the darkness.

Both girls snuggled deeper into the covers, realizing that today was truly a gift of a “Saturday-like” day given to them on what should have been a school day.

What emotion would we choose to wear if we could only choose one for the rest of our days? Would we choose to don JOY?

J-Jesus 1st.

O-Others 2nd.

Y-Yourself 3rd.

There is magnificent JOY from knowing Jesus as Savior. Yes, it’s almost totally indescribable joy.

JOY—Knowing that despite what comes to us, God will always remain right there, within us, anchoring us to Him.
JOY—Realizing that never again will we walk in darkness, apart from God’s goodness.
JOY—Remembering that (every day) forevermore, we will reside within God’s presence, whether we are alive here on earth or whether we die and transcend into heaven
JOY—Smiling from ear-to-ear, knowing that NOTHING can ever separate us from the love of God.

Without a doubt, if we ONLY had one emotion to wear into our future, we may most assuredly select to wear JOY as we place a Smile on our face to share with the world.

J–Jesus Christ as Savior.

O–Others to Serve as we go.

Y–Yourself, forever secure with God. 
There is a beautiful passage in the Bible (well actually more than one), that speaks of this eternal JOY we can wear as we daily clothe ourselves. “Strength and dignity are her clothing,And she smiles at the future” (Proverbs 31: 25).
As my two daughters snuggled deeper into the covers on that winter morning, they smiled into their immediate future, anticipating the blessing of not arising early and (instead) sleeping in for a few more hours. Sydney had experienced this JOY before, thanking me as she drifted back to sleep. Marieke was at first confused because snow days were not common in her home country, but today, she would enjoy this gift of a snow day in her second home in America.  A smile came quickly to her face once I quietly explained the depth of the snow and the reason for the closure of school that snowy day.

Clothing is costly, but a smile is free. We easily wear it as we give it away to others, or we can choose to keep it selfishly.  As a Christian, we have a Joy-filled Assurance of our eternity, and we can also choose to share the gift of the gospel with others, or we can choose to keep it selfishly.
So, whether we have the future of this one single Today OR whether we have a future of 49 more years of Todays, let us wear a SMILE and let us share the most precious gift of salvation and JOY with others.

Let us choose today to share Jesus with all we meet as we arise and step into our immediate future.