Joy to the World!
I was standing in the bathroom Tuesday morning. It wasn't even 9 o'clock and I was in tears for the second day in a row. I looked at myself in the mirror and said this has to stop! Now! I've cried enough tears this past year. Thus began my stream of consciousness talk to myself. A line popped into my head from an e-mail a friend had sent last week. It was from "45 Lessons Life Taught Me". "Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful". Well, if I do that I should have a lot of spare time on my hands. At least that made me laugh. Joyful. I'm an adult; I can't just do the things that are joyful. What about all the have tos in my life? There are many things that give me joy. Just last week I was smiling, clapping my hands, doing the happy dance over completing the pots and hanging baskets of greens that Christy and I do for our outdoor decorating. The place looked smashing. So why now the tears. Joyful. The health ministry board says joy to the world. Ok. Stop stressing the things that give you joy, stop making them a chore. Try this on for size; do everything that you have to do today, just today, (start small) with joy. That made me smile and I set off on my way, joyfully. Six stops throughout Red Hook were done joyfully! Couldn't stop smiling, there was a bounce in my step! Back home to do more things joyfully. Off to Kingston that night, joyfully. Christy and I even made it through Walmart! (We get sensory overload and wrung out by Walmart normally.) Woo Hoo, Yippee, I sang thru the store. It kept Christy smiling and enjoying the adventure.
So, for December my word is Joy, God so loved the world, joy to the world. If you see me and I'm looking a little overwhelmed, underwhelmed or stressed, would you help? Just whisper joy. Call me on Friday afternoon at 2 oclock and just say joy.
Reminds me of a song by Three Dog Night, Joy to the world, all the boys and girls, joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, Joy to you and me.
Joy to you!
Joy to me!
Shari