Each morning I love pulling the seven shades up in my living room and kitchen to see and wonder what kind of day is outside. Is it rainy, cloudy, overcast, sunny, snowing, sleeting, or windy? How will I 'weather' my day? Will I let the clouds or sun in?
I dare you to find JOY in your day!!
I like to waken my home before my children arrive on the scene and have it ready for them. Lately, I have been thinking how many days keep passing as God gives me another day to open the shades. Seven shades. Seven children.
My shades remind me of seven children to pray for each day.
I am reminded to be thankful as I roll up the shades on a new day that God has given me. He doesn't have to give me another day. It is a blessing though there have been times that my days didn't feel like blessings. Joy comes in the morning.
These days I don't wake with a toddler JUMPING in his crib at 5am in the morning!! Neither do I have five children lining up at the end of the hall with big Tonka trucks ready to race down the hall at 6am!! My body and spirit is a tad drowsy and I find it important to intentionally offer praise and thanksgiving for the new day.
"We didn't create day and we can't uncreate day, but we can purpose to join the daylight hours with an uplifted heart. Praise boosts my lagging spirit and causes me to be grateful for the moments allotted to me. Besides, I find it inspiring to take morning by the hand and guide her through my home." ~Patsy Clairmont~
As I have been meditating on JOY at the start of this new year, I realize more and more how intentional it is. It is something that God gives us, yet, it is something that just doesn't happen without me doing something about it too!! That is where thanksgiving and praise comes in.
"Joy comes in the morning" and chases away my dreary thoughts, my concerns for my husband commuting to work, my worries about my children. No worries...God is in control as I pull up each of the seven shades. One shade for each of my children.
As you begin your day today, invite blessings and joy into your day. Pray over your day, for your dear husband, children, to Jesus Christ who understands your every thought before you even think it!! No worries when God is given your all.
Breath your grateful prayer as you pull up your shades today.
Five Ways to Start your Day off with JOY:
- Sing to the Lord: are you familiar with hymns? Find a hymn book and learn some hymns...I find the old hymns soo uplifting.
- Give thanks and remember God's holiness (it helps you to live holy)
- Think of God's mercy (His anger endures only a moment when our heart is repentant from sin)
- Be encouraged: weeping may endure for a night (those difficult 'nights' don't last forever, honestly they don't)
- Joy comes in the morning!!
I dare you to look for JOY with me!!
Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his,
and give thanks at the rememberance of his holiness.
For his anger endureth but a moment;
in his favour is life:
weeping may endure for a night,
but joy cometh in the morning.
~Psalm 30:4-5~
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~Judith~
How beautiful! I had just finished reading my devotions and was getting ready to read my prayer journal when I paused to read this. Time alone in the morning is a great time to pray for my family. Thanks for this beautiful reminder. I love how you pull the shades thinking of your seven children.
ReplyDeleteAlison
Thank you for stopping by Alison. Isn't time alone first thing in the morning precious? No matter what stage your family is in, it helps to prepare you for the day.
DeleteNow that I live in the Pacific Northwest, we RARELY pull our shades down because we get so little sun. We use sheer curtains for privacy as to NOT block out any glimmer of sunshine we get during the dreery winter months.
ReplyDeleteBut, your comment reminded me of those glorious days of living in the Midwest when I woke to sunshine every day.
Better than that, you reminded me to wake to SONshine every day, even when I am in a season of darkness, physically and spiritually. Loved the list. I'm a list person.
I love your heart, sister!
Well, next to up in Seattle, our area doens't get too much sun even in the summer. I live up 1300 feet on top of a little hill...when the sun shines it is wonderful but I have learned to appreciate even the overcast days. Since I have lived in Hawaii and California, I know what sunny days every day can be like :-)
DeleteMindy,
DeleteWe just moved to MN after 9 years in the Puget Sound on an island. I am from New Mexico and had to learn how to live in the Northwest. What was I thinking?!? Here are some things that worked for us. We have a lamp that simulates the sunrise, not a light therapy lamp, but a lamp that gets brighter as it goes. We would set it for an hour sunrise. It helped us wake up. We got ours at Sharper Image. It is worth every penny. Cod liver oil every day too in addition to Vitamin D3 daily. You can research it. One of our friends who was a retired doctor said that between 4,000 and 5,000 ius was good. A daily shower. Daily walks were a must. It was difficult with small children, but we all benefited from it. So, I had to learn that walking in the rain was just the thing to do. Boy was this hard! But, I knew I was doing it not just for today but for a good day tomorrow too. Walking gave me energy to keep a schedule for keeping our home and teaching our children. I would turn on the tea kettle and have a hot drink waiting for me. We tried to walk in the am and pm. On windy days I would use a Leslie Sansone walking dvd. Even stretching helps. Time at the beach or even in the car watching the water was calming. Sometimes we would do our walk in the state park. We ate lots of salmon, vegetables, and fruit. Good sleep was vital. We used our library. It helped us learn new things and get excited about new ventures. That time together with our fellow Christians at church was life giving. When we would get those days (months) of constant drizzle we tried to read stories outloud to our children. One weekend it was Sherlock Holmes. We gave up our tv one Lent and liked living without it so much that we put it on freecycle. We played games, sang songs and hymns, and did our work. Getting rid of our tv was the thing that made us FINALLY have regular Bible reading and evening prayer. Music was important for giving us energy. We had lace curtains for letting in sun. I tried to keep our furniture to a minimum. This was hard as I love garage sales. We got rid of all fluorescent lights. They were cold, depressing, and artificial. The incandescent lights were warm and beautiful. Gardening really lifted our spirits. We painted every room in the our house a soft yellow. We added skylights to our house, but I don't think it helped much as their was not much sun to come in the skylights. We did have popcorn ceilings that we removed. Removing that and putting in a wood floor really helped lighten and brighten our home. This all took a couple years. One of the most fun things we did was getting chickens. Looking outside and seeing those hens out pecking in the garden was so cheerful. Please don't think that I had loads of energy everyday. I did not. I did not do everything everyday either. But, these little things added up to help make things better. I hope this is helpful to you!
Thank you for leaving such a wonderful note to Mindy. I think I will take your advice and take a walk :-) I am going to send it to Mindy just in case she doesn't find it here.
DeleteBeautiful, my dear friend! Your post was a great blessing to my heart and a sweet reminder to find joy in the morning and all-throughout the day :)
ReplyDeleteHappy Monday!
Hugs,
Stephanie
By the way, I love the new header for your blog - it looks lovely.
Thanks Stephanie!! Thanks for the compliments on the header. It is off-center which I don't like but that is all I had time for. In PicMonkey it was centered but I will have to try another idea once I have time. Time?!
DeleteHugs to you too, Stephanie
Very nice. Thank you. I look forward to seeing the sun a little earlier, but we can have sunshine in our hearts even in the early morning. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAh...but I think I see the sun an hour or two earlier than you!!
DeleteJudith...I am so right there with you. Thank you for the encouragement today. I love the new header, too. Job well done sweet friend.
ReplyDeleteThanks Naomi for liking my header...if you know how to get the dimensions right so that it centers, let me know. It is centered correctly in PicMonkey but after fiddling around with it I gave up for the time being. My photography is pretty amateur :-)
Delete"Breath your grateful prayer as you pull up your shades today."
ReplyDeleteI love that sentence. Your whole post is a "word picture" message. Thanks, Judith. And I like your new header.
Thanks so much Gail. I am still going to work on InLinkz just as soon as time allows. This week is flying by!!
DeleteJudith, thank you for this beautiful reminder to intentionally look for God's joy in our lives. I agree that it is a blessing to be awake and aware-- joy "shows up" in some interesting places! I like the idea of attaching your prayers for your children to something you do every day. Thanks for sharing your ideas... and your heart!
ReplyDeleteThank you Kim!!
DeleteI love you joy post! My word is also joy!! Thank you for sharing the 5ways to start my day.
ReplyDeleteThank you Piper!! I think Joy is a wonderful word to choose!! I need to have it as it doesn't come easy for me especially when life happens.
DeleteWe have never met before but I'm thankful that Mindy brought me over. I want to really thank you for this blog. It was incredibly encouraging to me after two discouraging days in my home. The kids are "off" with bad colds and we're just a bit cranky. It's so easy to get into a gloomy attitude instead of thinking of the joys and certainly the joys that are new tomorrow. Old hymns are very encouraging and I need to sing and listen to them more than on just Sundays. I am certainly missing out. Thank you again... because I am at that kids in the hallway at 6am and baby up in the night and toddler at 5am stage. Uffda. :)
ReplyDeleteTandis...we have met ;-) but maybe not on my blog or yours. I have seen your name here and there. I am so thankful that I could encourage you today!!!! I have 'been' there in the trenches and the trenches got pretty deep for quite a number of years. I don't write too often about raising children but I hope that what I do write about helps you where you are. I hope to *see* you over here again and again. If I can encourage just one person it is enough to keep blogging!!
DeleteI choose joy! So glad you linked this post!
ReplyDeleteI choose joy too!! Thank you for your linky parties too over at Simply Better
DeleteGreat post! I love your attitude!
ReplyDeleteThank you. I am working on Joy...I haven't arrived there yet :-)
DeleteBeautiful post, my friend! I choose joy too! You reminded me of how often my mornings are quiet now. Hubby and the oldest at work, my youngest at college, and my mom going about her morning routine.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I miss those precious years with my babies, but I really love my quiet mornings now.
I don't always get them because sometimes I am up and out of the house on some days. But right now, when I'm sick.....I am loving them, lol!
Oooops! Forgot to thank you so much for linking up to Making Your Home Sing Monday!
DeleteMy household is waaay too quiet these days too!! Thanks Nan. Oh, and thanks for giving me your flu, LOL!!! You didn't know you could send viruses through blogging and emails??
DeleteThis is a helpful and encouraging post. Thank you x
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. I need these reminders to learn to be thankful and live joyfully too or I wouldn't have thought to write about it :-) Have a wonderful day, Budgeteer.
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ReplyDelete