Full of JOY

Happy New Year!   Now that it’s a start to a new year, I want to start by sharing JOY!

You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.  Psalm 16:11

I love crafting and being artsy and I feel my gift is to use these fun hobbies to encourage and inspire.  I don’t believe my gift to be of writing skills … however, lately I’ve had this nagging feeling to write … seems there has been a theme over the past few weeks.   {JOY} at every turn, there it was - {JOY, JOY, JOY}!  I kept thinking it must be a sign … in my daily devotional, in my bible study, on my McDonald’s coffee cup (beautiful by the way, I love the design and it does bring me joy drinking from it!), the earrings my son gave me, the book I picked up to read on New Year’s Eve, in a recent email and I had to laugh, when I opened my Dove Promise dark chocolate it said, “JOY is contagious.”  So, with all that repetition I’m compelled to write!  How exciting to share all this JOY - here are my thoughts:

Yes, tis the season for messages of Love, Joy, and Peace but do we really take the time to notice?  Are we too busy caught up in the hustle and bustle of Christmas and New Year’s that we’ve forgotten to live out God’s message … sure we know Christ came as our Savior but are we living like we know it?  Have we forgotten true JOY?  Are we stuck in a rut of disappointment of things that didn’t happen last year like we’d hoped?  Are we setting New Year’s goals that are attainable?  Perhaps we need to slow down, take a deep breath and focus on what really matters, what brings JOY to us – to our loved ones?

Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”  Acts 14:17

Perhaps we need to craft the intention of what you and those you love want to feel and experience: JOY, peace, calm, contentment ….

Share Joy and Celebrate- Mimi Doe of Spiritual Parenting says:

1.  Happiness is not about what we have, who we hang out with, what we do for a living, what parties we are invited to, or what we look like. Happiness is about who we are deep inside, what we care passionately about, and how we spread the light of kindness in our family and in our world.

2.  Giving, sharing, and forgiving are truly more rewarding than taking, accumulating, and avenging.

3.  We can't control the world out there, but we have total control over our own

thoughts, actions, and connection with the spirit.

So, get out your calendars, brainstorm with your family, phone dear friends to reserve time to be together.  Plan, prioritize, and become proactive now so there is meaning and true fulfillment rather than disappointment, debt, and disgruntlement during the New Year.

These thoughts make me think of the article/email circulating that many of you have probably seen about what an old lady said she’d do differently if she had her life to live over again.  She says, “I’d make more mistakes next time, I’d relax.  I would limber up.  I would be sillier than I have been this trip.  I would take fewer things seriously.  I would take more chances … I would perhaps have more actual troubles, but I’d have fewer imaginary ones … I’d try to have just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day … I’d pick more daises.”

In His final prayer, Jesus prayed that his disciples would experience the full measure of His joy – now.  He prayed for us to have His joy in the middle of rush-hour traffic, screaming kids and a darkening world.  He doesn’t want us to wait for heaven to be full of joy.  Jesus’ joy has a divine purpose:  to reveal Him.  He desires to fill us with overflowing joy, to proclaim his victory to the world over life’s worst conditions – even in the face of hurricanes, plagues, terrorism and nuclear disaster.  Jesus reminds us the joy comes from knowing the Father through the Son. 

(excerpt from the Women’s Devotional Bible)

As you reflect on your life, whether you’re 18, 38, 58 or 88, choose to live in fullness of joy by taking the time to pick more daisies  ... and by living each moment fully aware of God’s love for you.

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I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  John 15:11

Here’s to a Happy, Healthy and Blessed New Year filled with JOY!