The sun doesn’t give a hoot how I feel! It rises and sets regardless if I notice it or not. Therefore, if I’m going to enjoy it, that is up to me.
Joy is like that. It doesn’t come calling, knocking on my door, asking permission to come in. Joy is just there in the everyday moments to recognize, name, and claim for myself. Joy is sustained by action: a pattern of awareness in the things we do for each other, in the pause moments when we are still and name the joy in front of us, and in the accomplishments when we persevere through darkness to emerge a self-confident, joyful warrior.
Sometimes joy is huge, like running a marathon and finishing. Sometimes joy is medium, like making a quilt for that special someone. Sometimes joy is miniscule, like the sun hitting a dew sprinkled flower just so. Whatever the size, whatever the configuration, it remains my responsibility to have my eyes focused enough to recognize, acknowledge, and name joy’s invigorating influence.
Where is your joy today?
Sweet the rains new fall, sunlit from Heaven
Like the first dewfall on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Spring in completeness where His feet pass
…and JOY as I read your gem of a morning devotional! Thank you for this beautifully expressed and written reminder of my personal role/responsibility in recognizing, naming, and claiming moments of joy.