I stood in the golden morning sunlight at the kitchen sink. It was there again. The shimmer of the spider's web on the window sill. I wiped away the little web for the 5th time that week. It was a little game Mr. Spider and I had going. I would wipe away his pesky web each morning and the next morning his web would be rewoven. By this 5th morning, I marveled at his tenaciousness, patience, and his delicate sculpture flirting in the morning sunlight. I was entranced with this one single moment of my day. Captured in my own childlike awe and wonder at my Father's creation. I realized that in that moment, I was so grateful for seeing something beautiful...again. I was grateful,...that I was able to feel gratitude.
As a child I had this awe and wonder in me at all times.
Then...then I grew up, and got a really "big life". Job, husband, kids, house, schedules, and schedules for schedules. My "big life" was too big for awe and wonder. Then the day came in my "big life", where I stood at that same kitchen sink and wanted to run out the front door and run away from my really "big life", and into the arms of the awe and wonder of my youth. This was all there was? Have you ever wondered that? Is this it? This is all there is? I thought there would be "more" at this point in life. But no more was to be had. I had every earthly thing there was to have....yet something was missing. Do you know what that was?
Joy.
J. O. Y. Three simple letters that encompassed the "more" I sought. I remembered Joy from my youth. I had to close my eyes and sit with my memories. Those bittersweet memories. I was a child who knew hurt and rejection, yet some how I had found Joy in the midst of the that pain. How had I done it then, yet could not find it now? I didn't have the pain I had then, any more? How had I done it? I then remembered. I lived in the moment. I stayed present. And I found gratitude for the moments of awe and wonder that permeate children's minds.
So, I started an experiment with myself and tried on the ways of my youth again. I sat with memories to help guide me. I spent more time getting into my children's world. I spent more time getting small. I got really, really small. Getting out of my "big life". And you know what I found? I found the "more" I had been looking for.
Gratitude was the lens for uncovering the beauty in the midst of my everyday life. These moments with beauty...led to JOY.
My "big life" wasn't so big after all. It was the smallest of moments that magnified God, that were the "big life"... the FULLNESS of LIFE.
Challenge: In this month of November, we celebrate Thanksgiving only one day. I want to extend an invitation to be thankful for each of the days in November. An invitation to come up with at least one thing each day of this month that you are grateful for. Journal them, tack them up on the fridge, pin them up on a bulletin board, or just Facebook one a day. When we start thinking and writing for a project like this, we tend to think on a Level 1 of writing of gratitudes. For example, "I'm thankful for my job, my spouse, God, kids, etc." I would challenge you to get to that Level 2 of deeper gratitudes. Take a look at the examples below. Get your children involved and have fun seeing how you grow and change in the level of Joy you experience in your life.
Here is a little inspiration. Below are a few things I am thankful for:
1.) The freckles on my daughter's nose.
2.) The gap between my son's two front teeth that allows him to make a whistling noise when he pronounces any word with an "s".
3.) My husband's hands...the hands that work to provide for us,...tend to boo boo's,...and hold me at night.
4.) The warmth of a hot cup of coffee on a crisp morning.
5.) My eyes...my sight...the sight I have today.
6.) Heated car seats.
7.) The smell of the leaves on the forest floor in Autumn.
8.) My cleaning lady.
9.) All of my girlfriend's hugs...their knowing looks in their eyes...and their reassuring squeezes of the hand.
10.) That my children, today,...in this moment are still loving mama hugs and cuddles.
"He has made everything beautiful in its time." - Ecclesiastes 3:11
"Be joyful always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 5:16 - 18
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