JOY

Someone told me she thought my words would make a good poster, so I designed this. Enjoy and share if you’d like.

Choosing Joy

“Joy” is one of my favorite words. Even when life is a disappointment or trial, we can still have a consistent joy. I believe that joy is that which runs deep in our spirit, and it flows from gratitude, appreciation, and abundance, and the ability to recognize when we have them.

Sometimes having joy requires making the choice to take it easy. Breathe. Enjoy. Relish. I love that word “relish”. By definition it means…

Definition:	great appreciation of something
Synonyms:	enjoyment,  gusto,  liking, love, loving, penchant, pleasure,  propensity,  savor, taste, zest

I have “great appreciation of”, or relish,  those moments of pure simplicity….like evenings or unexpected snow days at home with my “treasures” (better known as my kiddos), birds chirping after a season of cold silence, that flash when the sun breaks through after long periods of cloudy sameness, oh, and the first lick of chocolate cake batter from the bowl. Perhaps the simple things are the big things in life after all. Did you know you can teach yourself to recognize them?

Of course, that means being purposeful about it and being aware. Looking for those precious moments of pure gift. Actually seeing everything around you. Yes, there is a lot of ugly. And yes, it means we can’t be numb–which can sometimes be the gateway to emotional pain. But without allowing ourselves to sense and see, we also delete from our lives the gifts of joy we are given on a daily basis.

Sometimes we have no choice, overcome and overwhelmed with life. Many times we do….we fill our lives with unnecessary busyness, often trying to please others with agendas that aren’t in our best interest. I’m learning what matters most to me (what a process!)…being with my children, conserving my energy so I can be “present” with them (and learning what “conserving my energy” means, when I used to believe I had a bottomless reserve!), choosing carefully when to meet with people, not sacrificing my important priorities because others want me to. Wow, it’s taken a very long time to reach this spot.I used to absolutely run ragged doing all the “shoulds”. I’m so thankful I can now choose (most days).

It’s funny how all the unnecessary stuff begins to fall away and we are left with the things and people who matter most. The people we treasure, the acts that feed our spirits, and the laughter that connects us and supplies endorphins to keep us going! I wish for you, my friend, the choice…that you may relish–with JOY–your life and the people who fill it.

2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I want to encourage you to LIVE Loud and Make it COUNT this year. Now, even though I’m naturally a loud person, that isn’t what I mean here. What I mean is to live your life with passion, gusto, meaning!! In everything you do….LIVE it. IN the moment. Do not become dulled by the busyness, by the stress and worry. Dullness may seem to help you survive, but you miss out on so much that way. I’m not one to talk about silver linings, but I DO know that in every single situation there is at least ONE thing to be grateful for.

There have been many times in my life that that one thing is what kept me going. And in recognizing its presence, I discovered even more! So Passionistas, I encourage you grab hold and live your life LOUD!

Oh come let us adore Him!

Merry Christmas everyone. Be blessed.

Christmas Eve’s Eve

Two days, and it will already be over. I hate to see Christmas come to an end. I absolutely love this time of year. After this, it’s all a bit anti-climatic. But, ahead of us is a new beginning, a “clean slate” to borrow a cliche. And Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, and on through the year. And in ten-ish months, I can decorate again! Oh, how I’ve loved decorating this year. I’m thankful to be at it again, after a long, somewhat “dry” period.

One of the things I truly enjoy every year is taking out the items my children have made throughout their elementary school years. Our tree is laden with their school-made ornaments and it is delightful!

The cinnamon-applesauce ornaments on the right were made by my daughter in 4th grade. I love how this little vignette turned out. And…

this cute little log candle holder she made last year in 5th grade. I added a little white bird and a “joy” ornament to fill in, only because to me “more is better”, but I just love it as it was, too.

And me? In seventh grade, I made the paper mache angel on the right and gave it to my parents for Christmas. I think she lost her wings somewhere during the last 48 years. Or maybe I didn’t give her any. Anyway, again, I love the things made by kids in school.

How cute are these? Funny thing, I remember when our school (I taught there for 31 years and my children attend there now) ran out of the “real” green paper, and we had to use this ugly, faded green for our Christmas projects. Ugh! And here we have, captured forever, art project Christmas trees that will revive that memory for me. How funny!

I had been married for 21 years, never birthed a child, and at age 48 my son came to enrich our lives. My daughter came the next year, just before Christmas. I can say that they have truly blessed my life–and….turned it upside down, changed me totally, and set me on this roller-coaster adventure called life. And they have forever stamped their signature all over my Christmas.

I Had Plans…

I really did. To take the kids someplace, just to get outside, away for a while. But my little home is a Christmas Wonderland, and I am quite reluctant to leave it. I guess I’ve made it too cozy, if that’s possible. Well, I guess it’s possible because I don’t want to ever leave.

And guess what? I don’t have to. I am the captain(ness) of this ship, and I decided to dock it for a while and just relax. Remember that word? Re-lax. Not to be confused with “be lax”, which connotes not doing my job. Sometimes relaxing IS my job. (Jump back Jack, lightening is gonna strike!) And lately I’ve become accepting of my desire to do so.

For many years, I ran like crazy. Constantly going, doing, organizing, caring for, working etc. I got pretty worn out. And that was before I adopted children! I still do all of those things, but to a lesser degree. Took me several years to not feel guilty if I decided to read a book all day. I would remind myself that I’d worked really, really hard for over 40 years, and was often still working hard now. So it was ok if I wanted to sit all day. Strange that I’d think I needed to validate my guilty pleasure of reading.

But you see, my mama was always tearing around. In fact my whole family lived a very full, busy, often exhausting calendar. Especially around Christmas. Daddy was a preacher, mama a teacher, and we were all involved in musical programs in school and church. Barely had time to breathe.

So right now, right here, I am soaking up the season. Listening to Christmas music. Delighting in having my children close by. Gazing at the lights. Creating decorations. Enjoying the vintage items surrounding me with their stories of my past and my family. Oh, life is just so good!

Intricate Beauty

Master Designer at work. It finally snowed here, in the middle of the lower peninsula of Michigan. The best thing? Every branch of every tree and shrub has been given visible testimony of our Creator’s attention to detail and design. Just beautiful!

I’m Particularly Passionate …

Hi and welcome to my blog. I have decided to jump on the techie band wagon and see where it leads me. I have four Facebook pages, so who knows if I’ll even have time to use this. But I wanted to comment on another blog, and was required to make a blog here. Soooo….

Here I am. Where are you?

Before I share my own passions, do you have any you’d like to share? I know that women are emotional, and I call that passion. Only recently have I realized that passion is a good thing. It kind of had negative connotations for a while in my life, but now I fully realize it’s WHO I am, and I do not apologize. That may have a lot to do with my age…and having lived for years trying to please everyone else. And having decided that I need to live my life as I’ve been created, full of passion…love, opinions, desire for justice, compassion, desire to educate, enjoyment of play and fun, zero tolerance for bullying (or harm to humans OR animals intentionally for greed and money)…many passions.

Thanks for stopping by. Perhaps there will be more. Mimi