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. 

Spring Cleaning

So, I started some pretty hard core spring cleaning today. Much needed. I decided to work in my laundry room, which I hoped to finish, but I still have another hour or two of work left. Honestly, I don't think I did any major spring cleaning last year, probably because I was still getting used to life with three children. It takes me quite awhile to adjust to a new child. Anyway, I'm always amazed at how much stuff I accumulate in a year's time. I'm pretty motivated to finish the whole house and I think next week is low-key, so I really hope to knock out most of it next week.

During my immersion in my cleaning, I had some time with my thoughts because Sam was napping and Kadie was playing quietly. I really started thinking of how Lent has been spring cleaning for my soul. This is really the first year I've been really dedicated to my Lent journey. I didn't grow up in the Methodist church, so Lent is a pretty new concept for me. Even though we've been at our current church for five years (wow), I still really didn't understand Lent until this year.

I've always loved spring but this year combined with my worrying less and having more peace journey and our seemingly record high temps (at least in my book), I am so happy. Happiness is not always something that comes easily for me. I have a hard time letting go of my worries and troubles, and therefore don't always allow myself to experience my joy. That is the problem. I've always let myself be the determining factor in whether or not I experience joy. Quite frankly it is downright stupid. I've had to let go of a lot lately and I'm pretty sure that is why I've really experienced the joy. 

My prayer is that everyone can really let God give your soul a good spring cleaning. Confess your sins, pray, and live your life. I will end on some pictures and quotes that I enjoy.

Smiling, emotions, and other things

Yesterday a lady at church told me how I was always smiling and happy, and how she appreciates it. It made me start thinking about how a smile can really just make someone's day. The truth is, I'm not always smiling and happy and it wasn't until just recently that I started feeling happy again. I've always been the type of person that will smile at a stranger, because you never know what they are going through. And maybe your smile will brighten their day. Even when I'm sad, I will try to smile. Just something I do. But in all honesty, it has taken me awhile to get back here.

The truth is that I've struggled with depression my entire life. It is a constant battle. I started pulling out of it as I got older and found myself. Growing up, I always tried to fit into this mold of someone I was not, which caused a lot of emotional turmoil. I started really finding myself as I entered high school and then even more so during college. And between my 20-30s, I've really grown into my own skin. I think it is definitely a lifelong process, as we are constantly adapting to our life changes. And being a parent has really made me examine myself and my beliefs. The person I have found is not nearly as conservative as I would have imagined myself. And most people see me as a hippie, and I'm okay with it. I guess I've kind of embraced it. It works for me. It feels right. I certainly never imagined myself having 3 children within 5ish years, loving a good beer and living in East Ridge.

What makes me happy is being with people I love. Treating people with the dignity and respect they deserve. I love meeting new people and learning about them. And I have been gifted with the ability to listen. So much so, that I majored in psychology in college. I didn't do anything with it for a career but it is very obviously a gift of mine. Complete strangers in Wal-Mart will tell me their life stories. It doesn't phase me. I just know it is what I'm supposed to do. Chris sees me getting "stuck" listening to people and just smiles, because I'm not getting "stuck". God put me in that person's day because they needed to talk.

So a friend told me about this application that allows you to read your old Facebook posts without scrolling for hours on your own page. After looking through it, I remembered what a dark place I was in and I'm so thankful I'm out of it. It was very hard on me when I lost my father. It is not easy for most people. It really took me a long time to find my happiness. He has been gone for almost 2 years. Part of me feels like that is why we were blessed with Sam. He arrived 5 days before the one year anniversary of Daddy's death. He came at such a sad time in our lives and showed me that it was okay to be happy again. And he is just a happy little dude. It is kind of like God's way of showing me the daily miracles that make life special, and worth getting out of bed for. God knew exactly what I needed at exactly the right time. And honestly, adding Sam to our family hasn't been easy. We were financially not in a great place for a new addition. Our house is too small for our family by materialistic standards. But we are happy and we make it work. And God provides everything we need.

So over the past several months, I've been allowing God to heal my hurt. I'm starting to see life in everything again. I'm starting to appreciate the small things. I am a very blessed person. And one of the big things that has been missing from my life is my creative inspiration. I'm starting to feel inspired again because I feel alive again on the inside. In fact, I have yarn waiting to be dyed this week. When I'm happy, I love to create things. When I'm happy, I listen to music and let it fill my soul. When I'm happy, my children don't annoy me. When I'm happy, I'm forgiving of my husband. When I'm happy, I just love to love. Thank you Jesus for restoring my Joy. And thanks for my smile, which can brighten someone's day.