It’s been a while since I’ve written. Not for lack of things to write about, but for lack of energy and time. But here I am, committed to share something that happened months ago that has had a continued impact on my year.

A part from a glorious week I spent with my mom in Florida in October, I have not had much of a break this last year. A lot of people I work with haven’t either and understand the toll it takes on one’s life. I’m tired. And you see, we were working so hard from July up until December. And there was a time when I felt like nothing could go right, and I had this mantra all last fall of ‘just make it to January’ . . .because I thought I’d have a break in January. And then, that didn’t happen. Another huge and important project at work destroyed any plans for January-March. So right before I left AZ to join my family in Colorado, the weight of that disappointment, that my ‘just make it to January’ motto would no longer work, fell heavy on my shoulders. And I started to realize that I had also experienced this immense pride in my work in what I do last fall, but that it was so hard to be present and enjoy it because I had this “just make until” mentality. And in praying for strength and endurance all those months, I forgot to pray for joy too. And knowing that I wouldn’t have a break before diving in to this other project, I felt like an empty tank. How do I move forward?

So that last day before I left for Colorado, I committed to just pulling myself up by the bootstraps and taking it one moment at a time. And the day was horrible. I had car problems, I got them fixed, I remembered that I had to get my emissions test and renew my registration before the end of the month. . . I ran to get the test done, failed it. Had an unforeseen project that needed immediate attention at work, I didn’t get to do half of what I needed to before leaving that day. And here comes my boss with my Christmas present, which consisted of a basket of fun things including this wooden art piece that displayed the word “Joy”. . .on the way to my office, she tripped and it fell… and broke in half.

My joy was broken.

So I just laughed at the appropriateness of the moment and the timing. Yea, my joy felt broken. And so as I packed up my dogs that next morning and took the 8 hour trip to see my family, I cried (because I’m a crier) and prayed that God would not just let me survive, not just give me strength to get by, not just give me perseverance and endurance – but that I would have joy too.

I was reminded of Romans 15:13:

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.

So I pray that I can trust more and focus on the gifts of joy and peace that God provides. And He provides in many ways, often in the form of my dogs loving me with their silliness and unconditional love for me every night when I get home, with my boss who fixed my joy (literally she fixed the broken word ‘joy’), in laughter with friends, in hugs and cuddles from the littles in my life that I get to watch grow up every day, and without fail God continues to give me songs to fill my soul.

So its fitting for a Sunday, a day to fellowship, rest, and enjoy this blessed life, that I pick a Sunday-kind of song – and maybe that’s an entire genre of song that I should do a blog on to fully explain. But for now, I’ll just explain that Bill Withers “Lovely Day” is a Sunday-kind of song that I have loved for a long time and invites joy for me, so I hope it does for you too.

P.S. I’m not endorsing this company BTW. . . just a great commercial. 🙂