Today is the first day of Spring. Even with the chilly morning air, there is a sense of anticipation and hope of sunny days to come. The early Spring flowers are beginning to push their way out of their winter slumber and birds are filling the morning with song. I love this time of year.
I also love quick pop up thunderstorms in the Spring. The kind of storm that leaves as fast as it arrives and is followed by a beautiful sun and a rainbow. I have always loved rainbows. When I was a little girl, it was one of the only things I could draw with any real talent. I had stickers and sheets and earrings all filling my world with the colorful order of ROYGBIV. As I grew older and discovered my faith, I was in awe of the Biblical promise of a rainbow. Seeing a rainbow in the sky is a reminder to me of how very much God loves me and how He keeps his promises. I simply cannot pause long enough to take in the beauty of a rainbow filling the sky.
This year, my husband and I have chosen the word JOY for our focus. We want to saturate our life and the lives of our children with more joy. Not happiness, but joy. True, heartfelt, deep, abiding joy. The kind of joy that remains on the bad days. The kind of joy that remains when you don't feel happy. The kind of joy that invades our hearts and becomes the very breath we breathe.
A huge task. As I read back over that I think to myself, "really is that even attainable?" I believe that it is. However, I also believe that we have to work for it. We have to intentionally choose joy. We have to seek it out and sometimes even hunt it down. As if we were searching for the end of the rainbow.
I am convinced a direct route to a joy-filled life is through the filter of gratitude. Every time I find myself caught up in the "stuff" of life and lose perspective, I notice that I am lacking gratitude. Gratitude leads to joy and joy is what I am chasing. What I am choosing. What I long for deep within my soul.
To me, choosing joy is like finding a rainbow in the sky after a Spring rainstorm. It is all the colors of my life brought together to be something beautiful.
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