What are we going to choose today?!?!? JOY!!!!
This is how my day starts out on the way to school each morning. Once everyone is strapped in and I have a captive audience I ask the most important question of the day, "What are we going to choose today"? The boys (and Brianna) answer, " JOY"!!! Then we sing the song, surely you've sung it before:
I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart
WHERE?
Down in my heart
WHERE?
Down in my heart
I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart
WHERE?
Down in my heart to stay for all day! (We added the "for all day"!)
Then we sing it again. Logan says sing it again LOUDER! Or Garett says "full speed ahead"! and we sing it super fast! However we do it, it puts a smile on everyone's faces no matter how the morning has gone up till that point.
At the beginning of the year I was doing a Beth Moore Bible study and she talked about choosing joy each day. God gives us the choice to make the day how we want and so you should choose joy! I chose it when I was still at the Marriott and everyone thought I was silly. At then end of our morning meeting I would remind everyone to "CHOOSE JOY"!! Now we sing it in the morning and as the boys get out of the van at school I remind them that I love them and to choose joy and to make wise choices. I think that it makes me think about my blessings all day when I make a point of choosing joy each morning. So, I've been thinking about what brings me joy. Like it or not, here it is.
The beautiful autumn leaves and Logi pointing out "red tree, orange tree, yellow tree" when we are driving.
The sound of the kids as they get out of school. I sit in car line with the windows of the van open and the chatter grows louder as everyone files out. I love that!
My Baby Harry's giggles that shake his belly when you talk to him.
Hearing Reece and Garett say sweet things to each other and talk about school when they don't realize I'm listening.
Knowing that Logan is learning right from wrong when he tells me that he is going to share his cars with his friend Cadence.
Hearing the crunch of the gravel when Rhett's car pulls into the driveway at the end of the day.
Sunday night Game Night with my family.
I could go on and on. The world is filled with so many things that can bring you joy if you surrender to it. Look for the positive and refuse to let the negative in life take hold. You'll find joy a lot easier that way. Try it! Tomorrow morning when you are on your way to getting your day started ask yourself, "What am I going to choose today?" And then, without any abandon, say it, "JOY!!". It can't hurt to try it!
I've attached a picture of Reece and Harry today. Reece loves to hold his baby brother and obviously, Harry loves to be held so there was joy spread all over both of them!
Until next time, I'm fondly yours,
Jeanne
Chief Home Officer for the Brown Family
