It was dark outside, freezing cold and rain was hitting my face. I was out with the dogs for their morning potty/exercise 
break thinking to myself, “can I go crawl back into bed?” Ever have one of those days where even thinking about a joy jump is completely OUT of the question? I walked inside mumbling under my breath because crawling back into bed was not an option for this busy Monday. As I mumbled, I passed the swing on our porch. The swing that held so many memories of countless conversations I had with my Mom the last 5 years of her life. How many times did I swing on that swing with her when she was the one lifting me up? Too many to count. One particular day bad news came from every direction. Joy was nowhere to be found. But as Mom put it, gratitude was always there. So we wrote on a piece of paper, all of the reasons we were grateful. I did it reluctantly because I was quite enjoying my pity party. But the more blessings I wrote, the lighter the load of heaviness became.
break thinking to myself, “can I go crawl back into bed?” Ever have one of those days where even thinking about a joy jump is completely OUT of the question? I walked inside mumbling under my breath because crawling back into bed was not an option for this busy Monday. As I mumbled, I passed the swing on our porch. The swing that held so many memories of countless conversations I had with my Mom the last 5 years of her life. How many times did I swing on that swing with her when she was the one lifting me up? Too many to count. One particular day bad news came from every direction. Joy was nowhere to be found. But as Mom put it, gratitude was always there. So we wrote on a piece of paper, all of the reasons we were grateful. I did it reluctantly because I was quite enjoying my pity party. But the more blessings I wrote, the lighter the load of heaviness became. The longer I live the more I realize how different joy and happiness really are. Happiness is contingent on circumstances. Joy is life sustaining. It is the practice of breathing in God’s presence. Joy is filled with gratitude and will always move you past obstacles in life and into that presence. And in His presence is fullness of JOY! (Psalm 16:11)
As my favorite author Ann Voskamp quotes: “There are three small keys to open the door to joy: “Thank. You. God.”Joy is always possible as long as thanks is possible — and there is always, always, always something to be thankful for!
You get to decide how joyFUL you’ll be because you get to decide how grateFUL you’ll be.
It may be a cold rainy Monday, but I am thankful that gratefulness brings in the sunshine. “Thank. You. God.”
#grateful #joyFULMonday #choosejoy