Living in Joy

Living in joy means appreciating the little things, no matter how insignificant they may seem. For me, it means noticing the sacred moments that can go so easily under-appreciated or unnoticed: spending glorious, sun-drenched afternoons with my daughter Claire in our backyard-searching for silly treasures in the dirt, preparing home-cooked meals for my husband, savoring a cup of freshly brewed coffee in the dewy morning over a favorite book. And sometimes the moments are even simpler than those, like stopping to acknowledge a flower, admiring a flitting hummingbird, or basking in the beauty of the day.  I especially love the feeling of the sun on my bare skin, because for me it feels like God is cradling my very soul.

But one of my biggest thrills of living in joy is realizing the people that have chosen to do life with us, be it our friends or our family. I especially love reminding my husband (insert your peep here) how grateful I am that he picked me to witness his life, upfront and center, on both my good days and my bad. 

On the flip side, living in joy means remembering that real joy has no price tag on it. In other words, it does not mean shopping or spending money to conjure up joy. For me, any happiness brought about my shopping is fleeting and sometimes even wears off in the parking lot. After all, how many pairs of shoes do you really need? And does that new pair really spike your personal Richter scale of joy? The newness inevitably wears out and those new heels are eventually relegated to the underbelly of your closet. Don't fall into the trap of self-medicating with a shopping spree, be in a store or on Amazon.

To distill this all down to one sentence: true joy illuminates from within you when noticing the little beautiful moments that come our way, moments that can pass by in a second if we aren't paying attention. With all that said, are you choosing to live in joy?