Words to inspire Alphabet Advent Calendar 1012

Day 10

Now we have come to my favourite letter and in my opinion, the most important letter of the alphabet.

Some of the best things ever begin with J. The name Jessica, everyone in my household, Jesus, Jehovah God the Father, Juice, Jam, Jeep, Jaguar, Jelly. The list goes on and on… I just thought I’d mention that.

Today J is for Joy!

Here’s the online dictionary definitions:
Verb
“the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation.”

“a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something or someone greatly valued or appreciated.”

Noun
“to feel joy; be glad; rejoice.”

I can’t say it enough, but I think it’s so important to have joy in our lives, even if we have to create it or find it ourselves. Life is too serious sometimes but it can be lighter if we find pleasure in something and be glad in who we are and what we have.

I met up with some ladies last night. These wonderful ladies are all mothers of children on the spectrum and once every two months we meet up to go out. This wasn’t something I started but it was an honour to be invited to attend. OMG, we have so much fun. I am literally belly laughing the whole night. We try not to talk about the ‘woes’ in our lives neither do we use that time to chat about our children much, unless there’s a funny story to tell. We just remember that we are women (before anything else) from a similar culture who love to eat, chat and laugh. We have such amazing times and we find joy in this.

There was one stage of my journey whereby it was very dark and dull and I was depressed. Looking back on it now, I know that there was not much joy, or I just didn’t find it or create it or let it in. I didn’t think I deserved happiness so I would wallow in self-pity which kept me down. It was just work, home life, work and repeat. I would find some joy on a Sunday when I went to church but I didn’t allow that joy to remain with me throughout the week. I was in a terrible state.
Finding joy, creating joy and taking pleasure in nice things helped me come out of those depressive states. Writing songs and stories, playing instruments and games brought me joy and I didn’t have to leave my house to do it.
Some of us might not be able to get out much due to the circumstances of our lives. However, we can also find things that bring us joy, within our homes.
I was at home with hubby a lot last year. I was signed off work for a while due to our family bereavement and then a few months later I was at home again due to redundancy. On paper, those days should have been tough all the time but we found so much joy together. We found time to do things that gave us pleasure, made us laugh and we just enjoyed each other’s company again and again. We found re-runs of the show ‘Desmond’s’ and we laughed and spoke about the good ol’ days for hours. I think it actually helped to strengthen our marriage too. Nevertheless, there were days when we were falling apart and if not for God, our marriage wouldn’t have made it. Thankfully, the joy of the Lord was our strength.
Sometimes we allow sadness and pain to remain in our lives but do we allow joy to make its way in? I’ve recently helped Joy to win the battles in my life and knock the heck out of sadness and depression. I feel so much better for it. I walk with a spring in my step. My children seem happier because they also vibe off the joy. They knew when things weren’t good, bless them. I know it was hard for them too. They are now joyful because there’s joy in the home.
It’s Saturday today, what are you doing that could bring you joy? If you can’t go out, what can you do at home that brings you joy? Do you love baking? If so, do it. Can you watch your favourite programmes, can you play games? Can your mates come round for a house party or in big people’s terms ‘a quiet but fun night in’ lol.
Please let joy live in your life. It can transform everything!

Peace and love

MrsJK