I read a blog a few months ago. I thought I had written down the link, but I lost it (if it was yours, please leave a note and I will link back). She talked about “pieces of joy” – I loved it.
What she said was so true – each day is filled with pieces of joy – and I thought a joyful life is not made out of whole cloth – it is made out of pieces. That really took a lot of pressure out of my life. It helped create appropriate expectations for my days. It made me grab those moments, look at the pieces of joy more closely. Instead of feeling a failure for not stretching those pieces into an entire 24 hours, I was able to better savor those joyful moments, instead of discarding them because they were not lasting. Then, like the book, If you give a mouse a cookie, the thought from the post I read, like a rabbit chasing a thought, turned down another path.
You have to catch those pieces of joy, or they will escape. I need to become a Joy Catcher – My mind, the butterfly net to those joyful moments, watching for them out of the corner of my eye, or being ready for when they surprise, and if they flutter to sit on my nose or shoulder that is fine, too, but if I have to chase one down with my Joy Catcher net, how nice is that – to catch and pull them close, those joyful moments. A Joy Catcher – I like that! I want to be that!
Sounds like a familiar line, but since I can’t remember for sure, I had better not claim it. I might have read it somewhere else.
This was beautiful.
Very good post! And I do sometimes try to find the little joys when the big picture is a bit too overwhelming. But some days…all the heaviness sets in and I miss out on the orange bubbles in the hair being silly, not a chore 🙂
Pres. Monson of the LDS church gave a fantastic talk on the subject: http://lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/finding-joy-in-the-journey?lang=eng
I actually took my blog name from it 🙂
Such insight!!! I can see moments of joy every day, and I grab hold of them because I know that life is full of ups and downs. I want to enjoy the nice moments, so I will have enough joy to get me through the difficult moments.
I shall weild my joy-catcher!!!
so very true, I really like this. -it wasn’t my blog, though! Catching joy- something very worthy to meditate on during the day. I love the photo you posted with your thoughts, perfect!
You always lift me. Joycatcher. That’s what I will be thinking about this week, being a Joycatcher.
Thanks!
Oh, YES!! The fruit of intentionality is profound. And I need to be reminded regularly! This is quite lovely! Thank you! 🙂
Beautiful, thank you for sharing that encouraging thought. It makes me think of the day we had here, sunshine interspersed with clouds and thunder and then sun again. And now I’m sitting here watching my children at the end of that variable day delight in the bubbles they are blowing! Joy breaking through the clouds.
I love this!
Choosing joy… finding joy in the unexpected places of our lives… allowing ourselves to be surprised by joy…oh I just love this post, Mary Leigh.
A few times I had thought that it would be such a beautiful thing if we were neighbors. But, then again, I thought… oh, she’s my neighbor, really. I can drop into her blog place anytime I want to… and see how she’s doing.
So, here I am… and I found you waiting to speak to me – through this post.
Have a great day, dear neighbor. I am glad I dropped by.
Love
Lidj
LOVE this. So often, we’re looking for things that are big and grand, and yet the true material of life is all the little things – snippets here and there. Great perspective. Thanks for sharing. 😀
Great post! It is definitely an intentional thing to do. But the joy is there for the picking. It’s in the little things :o)
Thanks for sharing,
Linda
Thankfulness and praise are the net-catchers of joy! Beautiful post, sweetie! 😀
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