Our church is doing a sermon series on joy. This is a subject that I feel has been neglected for me personally this year. I have spent far too much time peaking over the edge of depression and I fear I have forgotten what true joy looks like. I've been reminded that sometimes joy is right in front of me. In the form a girl with a hula hoop on her hip or rainy day toes splashing about or conquering a mountain top goal. It's there, but I look right past it. I see instead the unfair and the bills and the to dos. I miss it. I miss the joy moments that mean so much.
"Do everything without complaining or arguing." Philipians 2:14
I've let my complaints steal my joy. We all have. After Sunday service each family recieved an "ugly jar". The idea is that for every complaint you make this week you put a dollar in the jar. At the end of the week all of the money goes to charity. Sadly we realized quickly that a family of five seriously gripy people can't afford a dollar a complaint. So we are putting names in the jar, each name is worth a nickel, and at the end of the week the person with the least names in the jar gets the money and we'll match it for charity. (Don't think of us as cheap. We've had a rough financial year. Oops, I think that statement puts my name in the jar. This is hard!)
It's been a bit of a wake up call. Steven and I complain a lot! And the kids have picked up on it. Not good. We complain in anger, we complain in exhaustion. Even our humor is mostly sarcastically wrapped complaints! We are trying to be positive and encouraging this week. I think it's going to be a good exercise for our little family. Or we may all be ready to blow our tops at the end of the week from bottled up complaints. I'll let you know how it turns out.
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