Brene Brown said, “A joyful life is made up of joyful moments gracefully strung together.”
As you know, and as I have written in previous posts, life is not always a walk in the park. That fact has been a constant since the passing of our sweet Steve but I think our family has handled our loss well. With the passage of every holiday, birthday, and milestone, we have both laughed and cried, mourned and celebrated! I feel that we have been able to successfully string those joyful moments, both large and small, into something new and lovely.
Over this past year, I’ve had moments of deep despair but those have been quickly followed by other precious, more uplifting ones. Just in the past three weeks I:
- FaceTimed with my Allen family which made for a perfect day.
- Spent a long afternoon with two colleagues and friends, laughing, drinking wine, eating and planning new adventures!
- Planned a get together with another friend from the old days.
- Watched our little ones love on handmade bunnies and Easter baskets, run around the yard looking for eggs and then munch on chocolate and cupcakes. All moments which were worthy of a smile or two.
- Created a brightly colored quilt out of scraps.
- Did a lot of yard work; mowing the lawn and planting vegetables, new flowers and trees.
- Got my first light sunburn in a long while!
- Finished reading the entire Bible!!
- Walked the dogs most days…sometimes twice!
- Got to babysit my sick littles and successfully turned it into a fun day.
- Ate lunch with Mom which is always great.
- Was surprised to see an old friend at Magnolia Haus!
- Made plans with Lauren to get healthy so we can walk/run a half marathon.
- Planned a visit to my Allen peeps.
I think that our lives are a bit like sewing a scrappy quilt. You collect all of these little bits and pieces of fabrics (the events in our lives). Some are bright, fun and gorgeous just like those moments listed above, while other fabrics are not as bright, in fact, some are downright ugly, like illness and death. Each piece of fabric is chosen, cut and shaped and then laid out in a pattern that is pleasing to the eye. Colors that complement each other are placed side by side, the dull and ugly lay next to the brights which cause the pretty colors (joyful times) to appear even more vibrant. Once the pieces are sewn and woven together with a variety of threads they cease to be individual pieces but become a whole new piece of fabric. It is now a work of art, a whole piece (a whole life); both functional and, in spite of the icky pieces, lovely to behold. Times of joy, happiness, love, friendship and laughter are interwoven with times of sadness, illness, death, despair and brokenness to create a new tapestry of our lives.
I implore you, don’t let the dull and ugly pieces determine how you view your circumstances. Let them fade into the whole. Focus on the moments of joy and allow them to permeate and become the highlights in the new tapestry that is your life.
“Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord.” Psalm 96:12
OnJoyRoad 