A Minute Masterpiece

Feeling real joy doesn't have to take a life time to achieve. In fact it isn't even anything that you can achieve. Joy is what we are. Joy is what is. We ourselves, or rather our thoughts are what make us feel that it's something you have to work hard and endlessly at in order to obtain. If that is how we think and live our daily lives than we miss out on so many moments of joy that are right before us all the time. Moments we don't even have to do anything to experience, just open our eyes and heart and let the joy unfold like a blurry painting on a chaotic canvas it can become a clear and beautiful masterpiece to treasure.

Let me share an example of one such treasure I saw the other day.

I was sitting outside in my lounge chair on the deck drinking a green smoothie basking in the nice spring weather of the day and savoring each smooth sip through the straw, when my two teenagers discovered me in my secret retreat from the noise of the younger kids and their friends inside the house. Suddenly the peaceful moment I was experiencing by myself immediately multiplied many fold just by seeing them and spending a few moments with them. My daughter sat down on the chair with me and my son stood by as we all looked out on the lawn and commented on all the plastic cups scattered about, evidence of pellet gun targets hit dead on by my talented teenage son. The moment was perfect and full of joy. It only lasted a few minutes and then we all returned inside and went about doing things but the image and feeling of the moment lingered on and on and is imprinted in my heart and mind.

Now a number of things could have happened during that time that might have seemed justified and important but not if experiencing joy is the design and purpose of our life. I could have been annoyed by their interruption in my moment of solitude and felt angry and upset by that. I could have given my son a lecture about not being responsible and cleaning up after himself and rubbed in how he made our yard look like a trash dump, not to mention another lecture on the safety and responsibility of pellet guns or destruction of property. But you know what any of those thoughts would've done, let alone what any action I might have taken on those thoughts would have created? Distress, destruction, and despair! That's what they would have done.

Instead, I didn't even think those thoughts, not one, in fact those thoughts didn't even occur to me until after the moment was already over and I thought back on it with gratitude for not only having experienced the moment but also that I was able to  recognize it as a moment of joy. I then expressed even more and deeper gratitude for not allowing myself to ruin it with such thoughts and in turn felt in that moment of recognition even more joy. So you see my joy in that quiet alone time was increased by the mere presence of my teenagers and by my choosing to feel and express gratitude for them and for being their mother.

I had built the frame by creating a single moment of solitude to ponder and look upon the beauties of God's creations which began to transform the blank canvas stretched across it. The teenagers entered and my eyes then saw even more clearly the beauty before me: my children, carried in my womb, created of my flesh, cradled in my arms, growing up in grace and goodness right before my very eyes.  The cups all over the lawn, mere objects of plastic that could be easily picked up and replaced at any time with out much strain to one's back or wallet, became living strokes of light radiating through the canvas as comments were made that expressed and recognized the great talent and skill my son possessed and confidence, courage and love were affirmed within him and the beauty beamed brighter, the masterpiece of a single brief moment, clearly seen, deeply felt, and gratefully preserved.

Try it some time. Just live in a single moment. Don't even let thoughts of what you should be saying or doing or trying to teach enter your frame of mind or being. Don't even entertain them. Simply be present, express gratitude for the moment and everything about it and you will experience one of life's little joys.

You can experience a double one if you add the green smoothie to the experience as well. :)

Laughter is indeed Good Medicine

Yesterday was a beautiful Spring day. Unfortunately I did something to my back and was unable to move very much so I was a bit confined to my room. However, just outside my window I heard my three youngest children out on the trampoline just playing and laughing. My back still hurt but my heart filled with gratitude and joy just hearing their laughter. These same three who often bicker and quarrel with each other were truly enjoying each others company and having a great time together. Little did they know how much they were helping me to heal. Although it wasn't long after that and they were back in the house arguing again,  still, there had been a blissful moment. And soon there was another one when they were all sound asleep peacefully in their beds. All was well and wonderful with them and their world. And although my world still moved with an aching back, and passed by loads of laundry and a sink full of dishes laughing at me as they seemed to multiply before my very eyes, hoping to be taken care of, I just laughed at them and walked on by, knowing they'd still be there tomorrow and every day after that, but the laughter of my young children will not always be heard from my bedroom window, and by recognizing that as one of Life's Little Joys,  I had just enough strength in my back to put a load into the dryer before going to bed.

I Once Was Blind But Now I See

I've always liked that line from the beautiful song "Amazing Grace" but I never truly understood how much it can apply to me in so many ways. This very starting of a blog is a huge one. I used to think that people that spent time on line reading other people's blogs, let alone posting ones of their own were I'm sorry to say "crazy, with nothing better to do with their time" and I vowed that I would never become one of those people.

 Oh how blind I was.
       Oh how grateful I am that I now see.

What I now see is that those who blog are amazing, with a great understanding of the proper use and purpose of time. As I have become one who now truly enjoys reading other's blogs and learn from and appreciate deeply the joy and peace and often laughter that I receive from them, I hope and I now vow to become one of those people who actually take the time to write blog posts so that others may benefit as I have. I hope to be able to share some of my insights and experiences in life that may mean something to you and bring a little bit of joy to your day as so many of you have to mine. As I begin this new journey for myself I invite any who wish to come along with me to learn as I am learning, that

                                                             Life is Joy.

P.S. Athough I now see the Joy in following other's blogs and learning from their great insights and experiences in life, I am still very new to the actually blogging myself. So please bare with me as I continue to learn how this all works, blogging and life. 


So here goes.

Other things I was blind to:

Nutrition and Health: It is a choice and a lifestyle and I love what I have chosen. Thanks to Green Smoothie Girl I am learning how and I feel great.

Holistic care and medicine: We truly are God's greatest creations and before he created us, he created everything that we need to care for body, mind, and spirit right here for us on earth. He created the earth and all things in it for us and then he put us here to discover it and all its many uses and blessings.

Marriage is bliss and wonderful: It's actually very difficult and often very painful and it can all crumble right in front of you. It's a real challenge to keep love in a relationship alive and love alone isn't enough to keep it alive anyway. There must be trust. Trust in yourself, trust in your partner and above all, trust in God.

Well those are the main things that I was once blind to and now that I see them more clearly I can begin to feel and recognize all the joy that life has in store for me. So here's to a new blog experience of recording
                                Life's Little Joys.