Be Gleeful

glee·ful

ˈɡlēfəl/

adjective

adjective: gleeful

exuberantly or triumphantly joyful.

"she gave a gleeful chuckle"

synonyms: delighted, pleased, joyful, happy, glad, overjoyed, elated, euphoric, amused, mirthful, merry, exuberant, jubilant

A dear friend and I were hanging out on New Year's Day and she showed me pictures of a person she knew who was truly living life to the fullest. We started looking at these albums of photos of this person who was truly gleeful. She is traveling the world and spending time with her loved one. I immediately exclaim to Chris that I want to be those people when we get old. 

I thought about it a lot. Why do I need to wait to be old to be that person? I mean, sure I may not be able to travel the world just yet, but I sure as heck can be gleeful in my every day life.

I'm not even gonna lie to you. I don't really know how to be that person. But I'm gonna try. I want you to try with me. I'm giving you a challenge. I've tried a few of these challenges before, but I don't always follow through, or I don't get enough people to participate. But I really want you guys to do this with me. I want to do this.

So start out by asking, what makes me gleeful? What makes you gleeful? Traveling? Crafting? Reading? Your child's laugh? Running? Music? Accomplishing goals? Oh, there's so much. Really. If we take the time to think about all of the things we do or see on a weekly basis, I bet we can actually find way more than one thing.

I'm not going to ask you to do this daily.  I'm going to be realistic. Life happens and sometimes it is too hard to keep up daily challenges. I'd like to do a 52 week challenge of being gleeful. I've tried several of the popular challenges and I don't last very long. Mainly because I cannot commit to daily challenges. But here's another thing. Not every day is a happy day. I'm a firm believer that in order to experience the euphoria of the good things, we have to experience pain and sorrow from the bad things. The good things just don't mean as much without the darkness to remind us of just how wonderful they truly are.

Will you join me? I've created a Facebook group for this community. Here's the nifty little button that will take you there. In this group you can share about the things that make you gleeful and have the support of others to help you find the silver lining.

I've obviously had a bit of a head start on this challenge. We took an impromptu trip to Gatlinburg yesterday. It's kind of our thing. We had a great time, even though about a million and one things that happened prior to, or on the way, that could have kept us from doing so. We got a super late start and then had some puke to slow us down. Chris wanted to fish and the poor guy probably only got to fish for 30 minutes. It was cold and rainy, but he had fun. We grabbed a quick dinner at Five Guys and walked the strip a bit. We checked out the huge outdoor store (NOC) for the first time and we had a blast in there. We walked on that skinny little swinging bridge and crawled around in a kid sized cave. We decided to drive to Pigeon Forge to let the kids do something fun. We went to Magi Quest at nearly 10 pm and stayed until 11:30. It was so much fun! The kids have raved all day about what a great time we had. They were a little trollish today, because heaven forbid should they actually sleep late after staying up way past bed time. But oh well, it was a great day. It was a great start for the #BeGleeful challenge. 

Crawling around in a kid sized cave in NOC Gatlinburg

Ober Tramway - proof I was there with my family

Ober Tramway model of the Swiss Alps

In awe of the Space Needle while sipping cheap-o hot chocolate

We made it quite a merry little Friday because starting Monday, our life returns to the normal. The normal for us lately is busy and not much fun. But I'm certainly going to do everything in my power to change that. So my peeps, are you with me? Are you ready to #BeGleeful? 

~Peace out my homies. I've left you with a Jimmy Needham song that I can't listen to without smiling and being happy. Enjoy!

Joyful

What does is really mean to have joy? What does it mean to be joyful?

joy.ful adjective \ˈjȯi-fəl\ : feeling, causing, or showing great happiness: full of joy

Synonyms: blissful, delighted, gratified, happy, glad, joyous, pleased, satisfied, thankful, tickled

Friends, I've struggled with this for a long time. I can remember as a teenager praying for the joy of the Lord. It has always been something I've wanted so badly but I've honestly been afraid of having it - so I've never truly asked for it.

There was a message at church this past week that really spoke to my heart. The gist of it was that we need to stop being afraid to ask God for little tiny things and to be bold and let Him know the desires of our heart. Don't just ask Him for socks and underwear when He wants to give you the big screen TV. It hit me and has been weighing heavy on my heart. I always feel guilty for asking God for things because I feel like there are so many other things that are more important. Like people who are starving, dying, or homeless. The truth is that God cares about my desires as much as He does the person with needs that I can't even imagine. The truth is that we all have the same need - which is our salvation.

John 16:24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. 

I've decided that I'm asking joy. The unspeakable joy that I sing about in worship. The joy that I know is real because I know Jesus. The joy that I have little glimpses of daily, but I am afraid to let consume me because of what that might actually mean. The faith-altering, life-changing joy that changes my view of the world and I how respond to basically everything in my life.

I am praying to be blissful in my spiritual walk; delighted in my husband and children; thankful for my struggles; satisfied with my materialistic possessions; and happy with my friendships and family.

I want a life full of joy and I'm asking God for it this year.

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Romans 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

James 1:2-4 Count it all joy, my brothers,^[when you meet trials of various kinds,  for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

John 15:11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. 

-Peace out. May you find joy in all things. 

Pearly

We have developed an adjective in our household to describe our daughter and it is "pearly".  Her name is Kadence Pearl. Most know her as Kadie or Kadie Pearl but those closest to her know her as Pearly - or just Pearl.

This little girl is the sweetest thing ever. She giggles, dances, chatters non stop, changes clothing about 20 times a day, works puzzles incessantly, breast feeds her big booty baby and helps me do my housework. She loves Power Rangers, princesses, babies, her "bunny house" and snacking all day long. She is whimsical, pink, huggy, sweaty, and really cute. She wears skirts or dresses all of the time and insists on dressing herself, and therefore usually doesn't match. She wants to do everything all by herself. If you do something for her, she will undo it and do it again - her way. She is stubborn, funny, mischievous and grouchy - especially if she is hot. She is very sensitive and wears her little heart on her sleeve. She is always thirsty and loves chocolate and taking swigs of my coffee when I'm not looking. She is very girly and the perfect touch of femininity to our otherwise, testosterone filled home.

She is just pearly in all of her precious pearliness. She is a precious pearly princess and I love her. I love every second of her. She is such a joy and I'm so thankful for her sweet little spirit. I will always be thankful for my precious daughter. God is so good.