My mom exemplified these questions for me. And with her passing just a few days ago it is becoming even more evident that she loved well. The stories people are sharing are building a consistent, radiant picture of who she was to everyone.
Sacred Moments
She saw her daily activities and conversations as sacred moments. She saw interactions with people as divine appointments, and really SAW people. My mother showed people value, dignity, worth, and her intentional living changed us.
I celebrate my sweet mother today. I celebrate the lives she touched. I cherish that in her quiet kindness, she changed the world around her by helping people hope, and then they turned around to inspire others toward hope and joy too.
What a beautiful legacy.
Many people can look back and see the legacy left for them. Others can’t. But we each have the opportunity to start fresh and choose to leave our own.
My mother gave me a heavenly perspective. She was my equalizer. She gave me eyes to see the difference between what carries temporal significance and what carries eternal worth. I might have shrugged and hem-hawed while learning it, but looking back I now see how my mom taught me discernment.
I have been thinking and talking a lot about purpose lately. Over the years I had developed a way of living that was more reactionary than purposed. I existed in response-mode rather than with true intentionality and didn’t really have the self awareness to see it. But it sure made me tired and oftentimes discontent.
My lens has been sharpening my focus over this last season. Some of the questions that have helped me are:
What brings me joy?
What am I good at?
Where has my life left impact on others?
What is my natural rhythm and pace?
How can I best bring Jesus to other people?
When I answer those questions, it is both revealing and life-giving. It helps me slow down my reactionary response to the waves coming at me and be more intentional to create my own. It shows me where I have neglected to build margin into my life. And it shows me where I have labored in vain doing what others said I should do rather than what God had uniquely called me to.
But thankfully it also shows me the times my God-given design and my investment in the world around me have collided to bring the most Kingdom impact and personal fulfillment. This opens me up to dream and look toward my future with greater purpose and intention. And it makes me believe in a future that capitalizes on my gift-mix but has healthy margin and adapts to my seasonal rhythms. And best of all, it will include respite and water, worship, hospitality, and overall wellness.
Dream and Move Ahead with Purpose
This dream is not completely clear yet, but it’s percolating. And I am diligently pursuing it. I continually pray that the Holy Spirit will bring wisdom, refreshing, clarity, and understanding.
Sometimes it’s hard to see joy ahead. Right now it seems as though every which way I turn, people are hurting. Whether through illness, oppression, job loss, trauma, betrayal, invisibility, misrepresentation, relationship breakdown, or loss of purpose, people are enduring trials.
The enemy of our souls is hell-bent on stealing, killing, and destroying God’s people. He thrives on division and ruin. He wants you isolated.
You are not alone
You are not alone. This hardship you face is real. It is arduous. It brings pain that must be felt and acknowledged. There must be grief. But you do not have to bear it by yourself.
I wrote “Holding Hands” almost a year ago but it just published today. It’s been a reality I’ve been conscious of and seeking the Lord about for several years, but it seems much more front of mind now than before. I want to be a woman who is keenly aware of and appreciative of people’s uniqueness and value, and shaped by our differences instead of trying to be blind to them. God has made us with such diversity, pointing to His vast creativity and beauty. I think young children can be our very best teachers in this.
Holding Hands
by Elizabeth Rhyno
So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. (Gal. 3:26)
The two looked shyly at each other. But even in their silence it was clear they were learning. They sized each other up, slowly taking it all in. In the bustle of the airport, it seemed as though time stopped for the little pair.
Dad crouched between them and slowly spoke their names, introducing the new brothers to each other for the first time. This was a holy ground moment for this now-expanded family. One after the other, each boy climbed up on their dad’s knees, directly facing each other, and he noticed a shy smile crawl across both faces. Such a contrast in color and clothing, yet already such a similarity in disposition. When black and white fingers slowly intertwined, Dad breathed a prayer of gratitude for the grace of God.
Our faith in Jesus ushers us into a new family, one made of people from every background, color, and language. When we die to ourselves and lean into God’s mercy we are buried in Jesus’ death and raised up with him to new life. And we immediately receive a welcome as God’s sons and daughters. What is it like to receive this family inheritance fully? Perhaps it starts with a childlike willingness to intertwine fingers with a brother or sister who is strikingly different than us. Maybe being clothed with Jesus means fully embracing our brand-new siblings.
Walk like Jesus, openly receiving people and valuing all they are.
Elizabeth Rhyno is a wife, mom, and pastor of relational arts at Waterline [Wesleyan] Church. Elizabeth chooses to pursue the Lord and lean into his heart for community.
As I’m writing, it is Sunday, so that means tomorrow is Monday, which means it’s a good idea to know 5 must-haves for a joyful day. Because Mondays.
To be honest, I’ve never been an overly strategic person, but as I’ve been learning to juggle three part-time jobs plus a family, and desiring to grow one business wider and deeper, it’s essential I learn to strategize. That can flesh itself out to include my thoughts, my calendar, and my choices. And even how I will enter each and every morning.
Thankfully I know this is true:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. (Lamentations 3:22-23)
Because every morning is a brand new opportunity to seek out the Lord’s mercies. L.M. Montgomery said it best this way through a fiery redhead:
Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it.
Anne Shirley
5 Must-Haves for a Joyful Day
So here are 5 Must-Haves for a Joyful Day, which you can take with you into each of your tomorrows.
Gratitude
I’ve shared numeroustimes about gratitude, and sometimes have included one of my favorite quotes:
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It takes what we have and makes it enough and more.
Melody Beattie
In my experience, gratitude is active. It involves intentionally speaking, writing, sharing, showing, and extending thanks to people around you. Voiced into the air, a song of gratitude carries our heart and mind forward on its melody and has power to lift our head above discouragement. And being thankful on purpose is E-S-S-E-N-T-I-A-L to a joyful day, and I can basically guarantee your gratitude will help someone else have a joyful day too.
Goals
Long-term dreams can be broken into short-term pieces that move us toward what is to come. Because big dreams don’t just happen when moons line up nicely. They happen from hard work, moving along an intentional trajectory toward a desired result.
And just like our teachers taught us in school, large papers are written more productively and easily when based on an outline. Because a good outline is not haphazard – it is an intentional framework upon which an entire essay will hang. It is where the most essential work lies, because if the framework is weak or off-kilter, so too will the paper be.
At the top of the year, outline the major dreams (perhaps 2 for family, 2 for work, 2 for professional development… be creative, and dare to dream!)
Next, brainstorm: What are the big steps that lead to those dreams? Divide up the calendar into 2-3 big steps forward per month, per dream.
Then, examine how each week will move toward each of the monthly steps.
Finally, divide up the week into manageable, strategic bite-sized pieces to help lead in the right direction. Each day can be a joyful day.
Perspective
There is a comedian and art critic who hinges everything on this. He says:
I like to turn things upside down, to watch pictures and situations from another perspective.
Ursus Wehrli
Have you done that today? Have you tried to consider a circumstance from another person’t point of view? Or have you examined a micro situation from a macro perspective? Zoom out. Could you take something in from a different angle? Step to the side.
For me, letting JOY loose has partly been a journey in perspective. God called me to Joy Let Loose when I was decidedly joy-less. And He has walked with me through some messy parts of finding joy again by calling me to vulnerability in community, and acknowledgement of #reallife stuff. Sometimes it feels just like this:
Pic from Nadine Shaabana via Unsplash
God gifts us with a glimpse that actual Kingdom reality doesn’t look quite like what we see in the moment. He uses people to help us ask important questions that narrow things in or turn them around or magnify what matters. It’s often all about perspective, and in the change, we find a joyful day. So be open to a shift!
Perspective is everything when you are experiencing the challenges of life.
Joni Eareckson Tada
Flexibility
A fresh perspective begs for flexibility. We will be far less drained and far more joyful when we can roll with things somewhat. Not that organization, planning, or strategy need to be thrown out the window.
Remember the essay outline I mentioned? Outlines and plans and strategies are important. But sometimes the clothing that ultimately dresses the outline can shift, or be accessorized differently. Sometimes throwing an orange scarf in the mix that you happened to find in the bin at Goodwill is just the thing to tie the whole designer outfit together. Get where I’m going with this analogy?
I used to teach piano lessons. Scales, chords, sight-reading, classical music, gospel songs, jazz…all the things that I think are important for budding musicians to learn. But one key component I often included that many other teachers didn’t were moments for creative music making. I wanted to inspire the songwriters within.
And the best thing I think I infused into these little artists was an appreciation for flexibility. A “mistake” in songwriting is just an opportunity to try going a different direction than you intended. It’s an invitation for beauty you didn’t anticipate.
Be flexible. Find beauty in changing direction today. A joyful day just might live there.
Laughter
A joyful day absolutely MUST hold laughter. I mean, they basically have to go hand-in-hand, I think. Even the hardest days can hold joy, after all. Even grieving days can have levity, and the most stressful days can find a chuckle somewhere. It’s important for our overall wellness.
I doubt I have to champion the benefits of laughter for you. But I may have to provide a reminder for you to seek it out if you want to have a joyful day. Check out that linked article for some great ideas for being strategic about laughter, mm-k?
And I’ll just say this: laughter is generally best when experienced with others. So in my encouragement for you to laugh everyday, I’m really saying this: get around other joyful people everyday. Joy begets joy. Laughter inspires laughter. If you don’t got it…go get it!
No day is complete without a belly laugh, amirite?
Go Get That Joyful Day!
Gratitude + Goals + Perspective + Flexibility + Laughter = the perfect storm for a joyful day. Let’s be strategic about letting JOY loose.
Tell us in the comments below what you plan to do to find your joyful day!
