Strength in Joy

I talked about being courageous and brave this year in the last post.  However, that is not really my focus this year.  The idea for my focus was percolating sometime after Thanksgiving, but was given a big boost by Matt at The Church of No People, who shared the concept from  OneWord365.  The concept is to focus on one thing for the year and one thing only.  My one thing to focus on is joy.

It's not that I am not happy or thankful for the life God has for me.  But happy and thankful are not the same thing as joy.  And sometimes, I confess that I can be downright begrudging at what He has me do when it looks like a sloppy mess or when His plan for accomplishing His job for me looks nothing like my plan.  What I want is the joy that is found in the Bible:

• Nehemiah 8:10b--"And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."
• 1 Chronicles 16:27--"Splendor and majesty are before Him (God); strength and joy in his dwelling place."
• Psalm 16:11--"You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence..."
• Psalm 94:19--"When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul."
• John 15:10-11--"If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete."
• Luke 6:22-23--"Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man.  Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven."
• Galatians 5:22-23--"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self control.  Against such things there is no law.

And interestingly enough, there are some blatant links between strength and joy in some of these verses.  

The first application of finding joy I will be working on involves weight loss.  I started losing weight last year when my fabulous SIL (all of them are fabulous, by the way), challenged me to "The Game-On Diet", which turns losing weight into a game. I lost 20 pounds, and then took a four month sabbatical, in which I maintained the weight I lost until the last two holidays.  I only crept back a little bit, but it was enough to motivate me to get back in the game.  So I am back at it, this time playing the game solo with my family as my support.  And my goal in this is to have joy, not just in the decreasing numbers, but in saying "no" to all the sweets that my sweet tusk desires, being hungry, working out, and making good food choices.  I have changed it around a little bit.  If I lose the minimum weight (1%) and make a minimum of points at the end of the week, each of my family members takes a turn rewarding me in some way.  When I told my oldest that it would be her turn to reward me this week, she immediately offered to pay  my way to see "The Hobbit-3D" with me even though we have already seen the movie.  Her extravagent gift (though not totally altruistic, since she has been asking to see it again) totally floored me and gave me HUGE incentive.  It looks like she and I will be having a movie date tomorrow. 

And of course, the purpose in finding this joy is to pass it on.

Hebrews 12:2a

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy set before him endured the cross...

Merry Christmas!

Before I start sharing some Christmas cheer, I would like to share a "bah humbug" moment brought to you by the corporate office at Starbucks--They suggested stores to be open at Christmas, though it is a purely voluntary decision based on employee willingness to work on the day. I realize that the prospect of getting double pay for holiday duty which will probably be a pretty easy day is very tempting, but please can we all agree to have just one day where we take a break from trying to stimulate the economy?

I've been given lots of reasons to laugh lately, both through my children and through circumstances. So I will share them with you:

1. Elizabeth's fun faces. These pictures were taken at a wedding this summer. This is what I get to look at every day. :-)








2. Hearing Elizabeth and John ask me the name of the girl who is singing when Elvis' "Blue Christmas started to play. They told me in very decided tones that they do not like Elvis. They also debated whether the songs sung by Annie Lennox over the Starbucks loudspeaker was a woman or a man.

3. Hearing the annual playing of the album "Cow Christmas", with such classics as "The Hallemoojah Chorus," "We Wish You a Dairy Christmas," and "Angus We Have Heard On High." I am sure that when my husband was buying this as a single man, he didn't think about how many times the kids would want to listen to it every Christmas.

4. Watching Jessi try not to smile while I was reprimanding her for getting lost in a book instead of doing her chores (while secretly wishing that I could have that same luxury). Her excuse was pretty funny, too. "Mom, I was going to start cleaning the bathrooms, but then Elizabeth started washing the hallway floor and I couldn't get upstairs anymore!" Of course, walking on wet floors, has never been an impediment in the past if it involves getting to a book or toy or sweets.

5. All the slow, indecisive drivers that God has put in my way in the last week while I am shuttling kids to activities or trying to shop. I also enjoyed driving in the pouring rain yesterday and the fog last Friday as I drove to Tuscon to see grandmas and my uncle. Remember from a previous post, that I was determined to laugh through trying circumstances. I had to laugh at myself for being nervous driving in fog when I was fully capable and not very nervous about driving in snowstorms in Illinois less than two years ago. I am becoming such an Arizona wimp!

6. Seeing joy on two different mailman's faces. The first one was overjoyed when I offered him some Christmas cookies. I think we are one of the last people on his route. The other mailman at the Post Office counter was ecstatic when I brought in packages for some relatives yesterday (12/22) and told him that I wanted to extend the joy of the season by sending it standard rather than express or next day. He drew Christmas Trees on them to make sure that the recipients would know that they are Christmas packages. In case you are wondering, the packages involved some projects that took longer than expected.

6. Looking out of my bedroom window into the living room below (yes, you are reading that right) to see Kyle look up at me and give me one of his big, huge, grins. This is becoming my standard morning routine.

7. Watching a Tim Hawkins video clip that I haven't seen yet. This clip had the kids and I almost rolling on the floor laughing. We had to watch it several times to hear it all. My house apparently is full of deadly weapons.

I hope anyone reading this has a Merry Christmas. And if you are one of the relatives getting a late Christmas present, I hope it makes your post-Christmas time merry, too.

Trying to be a train conductor

For our Thanksgiving trip to Memphis, I downloaded a couple of games for the kids to enjoy if the audio books, movies, or activity books were wearing thin. It takes roughly 48 hours to get to Memphis and back. I tried to download games that had a little academics as well as fun. The games I downloaded were "Contraptions" and "Train Conductor". I ended up splitting my time between knitting and playing the video games while listening to movies or audio tapes or silence (which is golden by the way). If you are interested, we listened to Focus on the Family Radio Theater presentation of _Ben Hur_ and _At the Back of the North Wind_ and an audio book of _The Titan's Curse_ by Rick Riordan. All were excellent and well done.

During the drive, I became addicted to "Train Conductor." It is a game where you have three to five train tracks and you have to move numbered trains to the matching track number. This sounds so simple and yet, when you get to the two hardest levels, you have trains coming out constantly, going in opposite directions on the same tracks going to other tracks. The worst situation is when you have moved a train to the right track and within seconds of getting to its destination, another train comes out on the same side and the same track and they crash. Crashing ends the game. After a while, I would have to quit because I became so frustrated at it. How in the world do the creators expect me to be able to get all the trains on the right line when so many of them are going to the same track in opposite directions and there is no rest?

Then, I realized that some of my frustrations coming out in the game were in realizing that in real life, I was trying to keep my own set of trains and tracks going, sometimes at cross purposes. Housework, hobbies, homeschooling and Christmas holiday traditions of his family, my family and ours. All this adds up to having the spirit of perfectionism, which is pride in action as well as attitude. What if I just let some of those trains go on the wrong tracks? In the game, I would lose points but maybe avoid a crash. In life, I would probably be a bit more relaxed and able to enjoy my family more and my home more. I might be less critical of myself and those around me. Would you consider that "bonus points?" I would. As an double bonus, as I was contemplating this, I heard God telling me that some of the tracks that I am trying to manage were not given to me by Him because his "yoke is easy and his burden is light (Matthew 11:20)."

Wow. What a great Christmas present--rest and peace and joy. Wait a minute, isn't that what Jesus came to do in the first place? Why do I have to keep re-learning the same lesson over and over again? Oh, wait--its because I am human and humans have been suffering from major memory loss problems ever since sin took root. The irony is that I have been reading and re-reading Romans 3 & 4 a LOT lately to soak in "the basics", which speak about the righteousness that I have by my faith through the free gift of God's grace carried out by Jesus Christ's life, death and resurrection. There is nothing I can do to either lose my salvation or to ensure it. Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

So what am I going to do with this newly re-discovered knowledge? Check my schedule with God more. Laugh more and be thankful for all of God's blessings, like my kids, my husband, "toys", and the gift of laughter. Thank Him also for having a sense of humor that He demonstrates in so many ways. Laugh when my trains crash in the game. Laugh at the fact that it took two weekends to fully put up the tree and decorate the house. Laugh at the fact that I need to purge my home every three months of "precious" stuff my kids have collected that fills their beds, their closets, every spare surface of the house, and every drawer. Laugh when my washing machine decides to take a holiday break. Laugh at the undone "whatevers" that I had planned to do. Laugh with my kids and my husband at all the fart jokes that come up at the dinner table and maybe make up a few of my own. Which brings up another question in my mind: Did Jesus ever tell fart jokes at the dinner table when he was growing up?

"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. --Isaiah 9: 2 - 6