Choosing Joy

Sunday afternoons are one of the biggest joys to me. We go to church and become renewed and re energized, and get to spend time with our most loved friends. Afterwards we have lunch, either out with those folks that we can't seem to get enough of, or here at home. After that, the world stops for snuggling with Samuel to ease him into naptime. He drifts off to dreamland in my arms, I lay him on those wonderfully cool sheets, and I slip out, off to do house work in amazing peace.

One of my favorite things about Sunday is cleaning. For some reason, it is just so relaxing to clean when Sam is asleep and the big kids are quietly playing together. Today, mid-way through cleaning out Madison's closet, I hear a loud commotion in the hallway, right outside of Samuel's door. The big kids are in a tiff... and they wake up the 2 year old. The two year old that requires no less than 2 hours of sleep to not morph into a version of Satan when his eyes pop open. This tiff occurred approximately 45 minutes into the nap. Needless to say, Samuel was seriously unhappy - therefore so was Mommy. Many minutes of toddler screaming later, I finally got over being peeved with the big kids and made everyone put on shoes to head outside.

It's amazing how the fresh air and sunshine can melt away negativity! In no time we were running and playing, giggling and adventuring. It's times like those that I realize how simple it really is to just choose joy.

When things don't go my way, I can revert right back to toddlerhood myself. I can pout, kick my feet, and become incredibly stubborn. It seems to just be my nature - and possibly just human nature! What's amazing is how easy it really can be to just pick myself up and get happy again, if I'll just take that first step forward. It's that first step - the digging out of the grumpy moods and negative attitudes to TRY to get over it. Even something as simple as a ruined naptime has the potential to really agitate me for a portion of the day. How silly! It is so much more fun to just go out and find joy than sit and be miserable!

So, today I found joy. I am so blessed to have it so readily accessible. I look at these three great kids and just fill up! The sun is shining, the dogs are leaping and bounding outside, and my kids are loving playtime with their mom. Not a bad outcome to a sabotaged naptime...