Do you remember your first days of parenting?
Preparing to bring your bundle of joy home from the hospital. Being sure that the car seat was in correctly. Being totally exhausted from lack of sleep, but still smiling as you watched the baby sleeping in their crib. Well guess what? Joy happens everyday and in every stage of parenting. It feels like we are on a hamsters wheel getting everything done, but when we slow it all down and pause, we experience these burst of joy.
Joy requires us to make it a choice. A choice that we choose everyday. Recently I revisited a gratitude journal looking for inspiration for my day. This entry spoke to the things that bring me joy and reminded me of a few lessons.
12/9/2018
Journal entry – Grateful for laughter and creative expression as I watched and danced with the boys tonight. So grateful for memory making and the joy in the walls of our home. Great Sunday worshipping and serving as a family. Kelly Ramsey
The joy of parenting gives us hope, rest, and peace. As we move through a world that is uncertain, we can hold fast to our families and create environments that nurture their spirits. Joy comes from somewhere deep inside of us. It is the burst of laugher that is laying dormant and emerges as your child does something funny, and expresses their true selves. Joy is from the well of our soul. The deep places that are awakened when we make connections, experience creative expressions, like dancing, and connect with the innermost part of whom we are.
What brings me joy?
- Watching my boys play together, knowing that they are going to be two against the world and emerge victoriously.
- Reconnecting with childhood as I put together a 100-piece puzzle and a beautiful image emerges.
- Baking teacakes and sharing them with friends at work and it reawakens their childhood memories of their grandma baking teacakes and the smell coming from her kitchen as they returned from school.
- Writing to unlock the wonder of life again and sharing my heart with others.
- Friendships and feelings expressed and heard. That brings me joy.
JOY is
Joining with others
Opportunity to experience something new
Yes to adventure.
Now it’s your turn,
1. Get a piece of paper and write down childhood joys you experienced.
2. Share the joys with your family and watch the room come alive with joy as you relive those experiences. Joining with others and sharing a part of ourselves brings us closer together. This is the opportunity to experience something new.
3. Now together create a list of the 5 things that bring you joy. Capture the moment by taking a snapshot of it, be sure you’re all smiles and you can see how much that moment brought you to life.
4. Create a journal just to capture those everyday moments that you share with family and friends. Say yes to adventure and enjoy your family, be restored to JOY.
So go ahead, everyone, and shout out your praises with joy! Break out of the box and let loose with the most joyous sound of praise! Psalms 98:4