For the joy of it...

For so many years, I have sought Joy. As a teenager, I believed Joy came with age.  As a college student, I believed it came from the self-help aisle.  As a young adult, I found glimpses of it in God's goodness.  I saw it in the faces of African children, in the integrity of the poor man, in my gift of a husband.  I knew Joy the moment my first child was born.  There was no question.  I was, however, surprised that Joy wasn't a permanent state.   All my life, it seems, I have sought something that, perhaps, was meant to only be fleeting.

And then it became clear...

While watching my sweet little girls chase seagulls on the beach, I realized Joy is available to us anytime we choose it.  I asked the girls, "why chase the seagulls?"  Their answer: "For the Joy of it, Mommy!"

Joy is not to be sought, but to be reveled in.  It's everywhere! I'm learning to soak it up...

We're going to trek down the shore in the dark tonight looking for turtle hatchlings...I'm sure we will be eaten alive by bugs, attacked by ghost crabs and end up sandy and wet... 

We are all looking forward to it...for the Joy of it!

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