Choose Joy

The week after Christmas the family and I headed north for our annual escape the city and goal setting adventure. Beginning three years ago, we began to take a short day trip north to catch our breath after all of the hectic shenanigans of Christmas and really, the whole year. What began as a simple attempt to have some fun and see some snow, has evolved into a time to reflect on ways we've grown over the last year and ways we want to be better. We set our intentions, ask for accountability and pray over and for one another.

This year we all agreed to keep our goals short and simple. We realized in years past our lists may have become a bit lengthy, a little too involved and perhaps overwhelming. However, I must give a shoutout to my girls. Jill accomplished 25 of 31 goals she set for herself. You go, girl! Emma is a goal achieving machine. Seriously, if she writes it down and commits to it in her planner, it's as good as done. She rocks. Okay, so maybe it was just us adults who needed to downsize and simplify. At any rate, taking this agreed upon parameter into consideration, I decided to choose a theme for my goals this year; one word that would become the focus and filter for all I set out to accomplish.

This year, my word is "Joy." It may seem like a simple thing, but for me, choosing to find joy in my every day is not natural. I have a tendency to go negative rather quickly, complain a little too much and a little too loud and assume the worst. I rush through my hours and days and say things like "If I can just get through this week I can relax on Friday," or "Only 15 more hours until I get to get back in bed." Seriously, there are some days I wake up and this is literally my first thought followed quickly by "Is the coffee ready?"


The thing is, I am sending one daughter off to college this fall (gulp.) She will be an actual, recognized by the government adult in August (double gulp.) My youngest is finishing up her first year of high school this semester and it won't be long before we're doing college visits and filling out applications for her as well. I mean, she actually just got invited to visit the University of Arizona this spring. (Already?) My husband and I both turned 40 last year which means we are like officially in our forties. My point is, time is going by plenty fast without my help. Why on earth would I rush things along with thoughts like "the sooner I get through this" or "I can't wait until this week is over?"

One the best ways I know to slow time down, or at least my experience of time, is gratitude. If I can just stop to be present at each moment, no matter how wonderful or awful it may be, and choose to find something, just one thing, for which to be thankful and experience a small amount of joy, perhaps I won't feel like the minutes and hours are rushing by turning into weeks and months without my even noticing. If I can choose to look for joy, to actively seek the beauty in the mundane, I turn minutes into memories and time into treasure.

But, it's a choice. It's a hard choice. It's easy to complain, to find what's wrong or what I wish was different, It's natural to lament the passing of time and the loss of opportunity. So, this year I'm going to fight my human nature, ask Holy Spirit to trump my flesh and choose joy in the moment and truly open the gift of the present.

Choosing joy also protects against regret. When I choose to be to joy-full in the moment, it's highly unlikely that later I will wish I hadn't been so thankful or pleasant. Right? Many times I've wished I'd not said those words or thought that thing. I found myself regretting not paying more attention or being more merciful. But if I can stop and choose joy, later I'm likely to be left with memories rather than regrets.

I know it won't be easy. What's worth it is rarely easy. But, that's the thing. It's worth it. My joy is worth the fight, the surrender, the submission, the letting go. So I will indeed do as I was advised by the brother of my Savior: seek to count it all joy rather than wasting my time and sacrificing my joy counting all the seconds.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Romans 15:13