But there was one problem.
I was there alone with my kids. There was no else with me at the moment to share that JOY with. No one to glance at when the kids did something funny, and no one to laugh at them with me. It was not as fun.
I am so fortunate, because I have many people I could have called or texted and shown them a picture or let them know how wonderful that moment was for me. Not to rub it in - that we were having such a glorious day, but to be able express how blessed I felt at that particular moment. (It was literally bursting out of me.)
I was there alone with my kids. There was no else with me at the moment to share that JOY with. No one to glance at when the kids did something funny, and no one to laugh at them with me. It was not as fun.
I am so fortunate, because I have many people I could have called or texted and shown them a picture or let them know how wonderful that moment was for me. Not to rub it in - that we were having such a glorious day, but to be able express how blessed I felt at that particular moment. (It was literally bursting out of me.)
Then I thought for a moment; there are so many people who don't have a person they can SHARE their joy with. They might be a single mother, or a single dad, or a widow, or widower, or they might be a single person who feels they have no one to express anything to, let alone joy.
If that is you. Please know I am praying for you right now.
Life is super hard. We all struggle with things; relationships, family struggles, addictions of all kinds. My epiphany was that it would be a struggle to not even have a person to share JOY with, how much harder would that be to not have someone to share PAIN?
So what can we do about it?
REACH OUT!!! Find people, include them, smile at them, make connections. We are grown ups. We can talk to strangers. (Maybe don't give them your address, and phone number) We can make connections with people all around us.
GIVE PEOPLE THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT. I choose to believe that most people are genuinely good. When they snarl at you at the red light, or bump into you at the grocery store, don't be so quick to snarl back. Maybe they just had the worst moment of their lives. Maybe someone they love was just diagnosed with a terminal illness or something.
If we treated all the angry and mean people in our lives with compassion and mercy rather than rudeness and resentfulness wouldn't we all be happier??? And then maybe we would find more people to share JOY with.
Life is super hard. We all struggle with things; relationships, family struggles, addictions of all kinds. My epiphany was that it would be a struggle to not even have a person to share JOY with, how much harder would that be to not have someone to share PAIN?
So what can we do about it?
REACH OUT!!! Find people, include them, smile at them, make connections. We are grown ups. We can talk to strangers. (Maybe don't give them your address, and phone number) We can make connections with people all around us.
GIVE PEOPLE THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT. I choose to believe that most people are genuinely good. When they snarl at you at the red light, or bump into you at the grocery store, don't be so quick to snarl back. Maybe they just had the worst moment of their lives. Maybe someone they love was just diagnosed with a terminal illness or something.
If we treated all the angry and mean people in our lives with compassion and mercy rather than rudeness and resentfulness wouldn't we all be happier??? And then maybe we would find more people to share JOY with.
God, you are amazing, powerful, generous and kind. You give us everything we need. You are the great provider. Thank you God for all that you have provided to me. You have given me so much!! Please Lord, help me to have the courage to reach out and share JOY with anyone who you call me to connect with. Help anyone who feels like they do not have someone to share Joy with to recognize your gifts and to reach out to others as well. You are the great connector, and the true source of my JOY.
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