a great prayer

"remember o my soul
it is thy duty and privilege to rejoice in God
He requires it of thee for all his favors of grace.
rejoice then in the giver and his goodness,
be happy in him, o my heart, and in nothing but God,
          for whatever a man trusts in 
          from that he expects happiness."

-valley of vision, p. 153

wow.  those last two lines are powerful.

but how can it be our duty to rejoice in God?  does that not take the joy out of it to know that we have to do it?

i love john newton's response to that (from one of his hymns):
"our pleasure and our duty,
though opposite before,
since we have seen his beauty,
are bound to part no more."