Helloooo!!!
It has ONLY been six months since my last post!! ;) It would be utterly ridiculous and quite lengthy for me to tromp through and explain all of our activities and excitement during said time frame AND include my pontifications on life, so I’ve posted three slideshows to sum it all up for you in order to allow more space for my opinions (which I know you ALL want to hear). :) Don’t feel any obligation to stick around after the slideshows. Seriously. There’s no way for me to even know, so there’s no accountability on your end. You are free to choose. Ha!
We live a beautiful life. It is filled with gobs of love, loads of beauty, beautiful friendships, important responsibilities, fantastic messes, occasional heartache, and frequent busyness. But we make a choice each and every day to love God, ourselves and each other, so that allows us to witness the wonder that is alive all around us.
I’ve had a lot on my mind these last several months. I’m a woman, let’s be honest, I always have a lot on my mind. I am a poster child for Dr. John Lund’s explanation of a woman’s brain being like an internet super highway where everything is connected. AND...I must give credit where credit is due...my husband has an uncanny ability to listen, navigate (keyword) and communicate with me in spite of all the words, ideas, and thoughts I drag him through. Props babe. Really.
Lately, my mind keeps redirecting and readjusting towards the following:
I have been contemplating what it means to have joy in all areas of my life. Even the UNfun, tedious, lame, and truly difficult parts. I think I’ve spent a lot of my life in a rush, in order to do the most productive thing at any given moment and measure results by how many items I could check off my list. I am quite task oriented and appreciate quantifiable results, so sauntering through life smelling the roses wasn’t of any real interest to me. Not because the roses weren’t beautiful, just because I’d rather have done something else. Which was fine. I think several people live their lives in a similar fashion.
However...as the days repeat themselves, and I manage the daily routine of being a wife, a mom, an employee, a Young Women’s President, a friend, and making sure to squeeze a workout in, it is easy to get caught up in reacting to what other people think I should be spending my time and energy on. I’m quite capable and confident in my abilities to produce quality results in a lot of good areas, but in so doing, I sometime find my thoughts running away from me and lack the peace that is essential in finding joy in this experience called LIFE.
The beautiful thing about having a relationship with God is that amidst the craziness, I can successfully be at peace...if I choose. I read once that sometimes “God calms the storm, but sometimes he lets the storm rage and calms you.” I don’t feel that the aforementioned list of roles I play produce a raging storm (except sometimes when there is a simultaneous tantrum and screaming baby...that’s not really a storm...just the presence of rage from all parties involved). Regardless, I love that concept. We can find peace and joy in THE MIDST of every part of our lives.
Another phrase also keeps popping into my brain, “Look to God and LIVE.” Those words, “look” and “live” are such active words (I’m an active person, so this speaks wonderfully to my soul), and they are the how behind the Principle of the Exponential Return on Investment. Living life...everyone lives life. But, I want to feel ALIVE while living my life! I feel a bit deflated when I look at all the hustle and bustle in this world and how much beauty and LIFE gets passed by due to the urgency everyone feels. Back to the Exponential ROI principle: I have found 100% of the time that when I make an effort to appreciate the blossoms in the spring, the leaves in the fall, the purples, pinks and yellows in a sunset, smile back at the smiles from my children, wrestle with them on the floor, linger in the hugs from a friend, look at my husband directly in the eyes when I say I love you...these things produce exponential results. They are small investments, meaningful ones. That, if we choose to SEE, have dramatic returns, exponential returns. One of the definitions of exponential is “any positive constant raised to a power”. I think that God smiles upon these efforts and so he willingly, happily and lovingly bestows an extra portion of joy on those who intentionally seek it. Then our eyes are opened to see more, then we feel more, smell more, taste more, and hear more. Isn’t that what being alive is all about? Our senses have been dulled over time by all sorts of things, even GREAT things. Maybe our attempt to cram the infinite number of great things into the finite amount of time and energy available.
I was talking to a woman the other day who rides her bike EVERY WHERE. She has a perfectly suitable vehicle and I had seen her riding her bike in the rain the morning before. I asked her how long it takes her to get to church, and asked her why she rides her bike when she has a van? She responded, “I feel so alive when I’m on my bike. The smells, the feel of the air, the scenery...it’s wonderful.” My whole perspective on her situation changed. What a beautiful concept...to feel alive while living. It’s all about being intentional. Intentional with our families. Intentional with our friendships. Intentional with our finances. Intentional with our health, our love, our forgiveness, our passions and our time. I am finding that I am passionate about this subject. Evidently. :)
Life experiences are not always joyful. There is a lot of STUFF going on in every relationship, household, job, church, and country. But there is always joy to be found for those who decide it’s worth searching for. And if our small investments of effort are guaranteed to produce an exponential return on investment, that math seems pretty solid to me.
In the continued process of carving out time to feel and experience joy, I hope that it’s not another six months before I post again, I obviously always have a lot to say. But, if it is...I’ll be happy to share my thoughts again then!
"Faith will keep you free. Especially from fear and worry."
--Grandma Simmons
--Grandma Simmons
If we are free from fear and worry, that leaves LOTS of space for JOY :)
Until next time!
Ash
