Today was a most glorious day!
I wouldn't be a bit surprised if a rainbow ended right on top of my
house. It was that good of a day.
Everyone woke up happy and went off to school
or work right on schedule. I work from home and was able to make a large number
of phone calls without being interrupted by my son or the crazy dogs. Nothing says professional like a screaming kid
and barking dogs in the background of a phone call. My
son, all of three years and a handful of months, is active. That’s mom-code for crazy! And he tries to carry our new puppy around
like it’s his personal toy. I literally spend
a good portion of my day saving that dog’s life. It’s a full out circus around here. After working, playing with the boy, and
keeping the dog alive, I prepped dinner. I actually made pizza dough from scratch with
plenty of time to rise. That never
happens. Dinner prep at our house is
deciding where we are going for dinner. So with work done and dinner prepped, I
actually got to have some pretty decent quiet time. I was kind of expecting the
crazy bomb to hit the house after everyone got home from school and work. But
it didn't. We had a super delicious,
homemade pizza that everyone helped with.
Who knew my kitchen could provide such sustenance?! We even finished the dishes in record time. After all that, there was something that made
this day infinitely better. Muffins. Y’all I made pumpkin chocolate chip
muffins! There is no better way to end a
beautiful day, than with pumpkin chocolate chip muffins made from scratch! Cue the angelic choirs!
It didn't take too much to find the joy in today. It was everywhere I turned. This, however, is not every day. Most days we are struggling to find the
tiniest bit of joy. Kids screaming.
Deadlines passing. Bills. Angry drivers. Crazy, inconvenient weather. Bad attitudes. It seems there is more non-joy shoved in our
faces than joy. (Yes, I totally just made up that word.)
What do you do when life is not happy and shiny, when it’s downright
poopy? (I can use that word because I spend all day with a three year old.) Let’s be real, we throw a pity party. We bake that pity up in a little cake that we
cover with sarcasm icing so it’s easier to swallow. But do we find any joy in that? And better yet, do we find any God in that?
I read something the other day that stopped me in my
tracks. It said we could never earn God’s
love. He wants to love us. He chooses to love us. Romans 5:8 says “But God demonstrates his own
love for us in this: While we were still
sinners, Christ died for us.” Bear with
me while I share my thought train. (Sometimes my thought train is more like a
runaway train) It goes to reason that if
I can’t earn God's love, then I must not be able to lose it. I should lose it because I'm a sinner. But it’s an unconditional gift. And I love gifts. It’s one of my love languages. So this is love! And love is joyful. Bazinga!
So that right there, my friends, is the simplest of joys
that I need to remind myself of every. single. day. When it feels like life is delivering up mud
pies instead of apple pies, I need to remember that little gift that God
wrapped up so perfectly for me, with my name on it. His unconditional love. As the beautiful Psalm
136 repeats, “His love endures forever.” Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment