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Have Joy

All of us know someone or maybe even more than one person who always seems to be in a good mood. They are incredibly positive and filled with joy. They might be a morning person or maybe just someone who always seems to truly be enjoying life. These people may also rub many of us the wrong way. We probably find ourselves saying this like, "Ugh, there's Susie, skipping along. Oh, John has so much to be happy about, no wonder he loves life."  Maybe you're even one of those "happy all the time" people yourself.  Very few of us would characterize ourselves as "negative, pessimistic, unhappy" people. But the truth is, many of us probably aren't as joyful and joy-filled as we should and can be.


I was flipping channels last night and caught one of Joyce Meyer's shows. At the time I didn't see the message title, but something she said got my attention. She was saying something like, "I raised my children, I didn't have time to enjoy them".  Now, of course we all love our children, but do we always ENJOY them? This struck a deep cord with me because lately I've been wrestling with how I interact with my two kids. All of us go a little crazy by things our kids do or don't do. Sometimes we're crazy not even from something they've done, but just by motherhood itself. We have a lot of responsibilities. Schedules to keep, a house to clean, children to feed. All of these things are bound to trip us up from time to time. What's important is that we don't get so caught up in the work we have to do that we forget to enjoy our life. Enjoy our family. Enjoy our job. Enjoy our friends. Enjoy our life.  


Joyce went on to talk about other areas in our lives where we need to be joyful. It so touched my heart because as a wife, a mother of two, a volunteer of our church, and of Olivia's school, it's easy for me to get caught up in the busyness of life.  Sometimes I have to tell myself to slow down and enjoy life.  My husband is constantly on-the-go. Rarely is he sitting still (unless he's watching hockey or playing video games, and sometimes even then he's multitasking with the iPad or cell phone). I'm constantly telling him to "stop and smell the roses".  We all need that reminder sometimes.


There are several situations and circumstances in our lives where we might ask, "what's there to enjoy?" I'm not saying we should enjoy being let go from work, enjoy the troubles in our relationships, or enjoy the hard times we have to go through. What I am saying is we need to enjoy our life as a whole. This message from Joyce Meyer really spoke to me, and I hope it speaks to someone else in reminding us to ENJOY the things God has blessed us with. Our family. Our job, our house. Our friends. Don't get so caught up in the business that you let precious moments pass you by.


So much more on my heart about this, but I've got to run pick Olivia up from school! I'm going to wake up my son who spent 4 hours last night awake, screaming and crying. I'm exhausted, but I'm going to remind myself to enjoy this precious moments that are slipping by way too fast.

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