JoyDrops

Originally posted 2-18-22

edited and reposted 11-30-23

I used to think that a clean and tidy house would make me so happy…no hats hung on the kitchen table chairs, dishes picked up off the table and put in the dishwasher, a shiny empty sink (well, to be honest, a shiny empty sink does still make me happy!!) A loaded and running dishwasher at the end of a busy day and no boots laying on registers to dry out over night- I always thought those things made me happy!

But tonight when the guys got home and came for pizza to go over all the salting and plowing they did for the last 30 hours and then all started falling asleep with dessert spoons or coffee cups in their hands – our family dinner night was cut short and the house got quiet a lot earlier than expected. Sitting in the empty quiet, listening to my wind chime singing and the wind whistling and blowing I realized that my joy drops come in the messy, worn, loved and lived in of our everyday…

The hanging hats

and wet work boots carefully placed on the heat vent to dry,

the half eaten apple pie and empty pizza boxes,

the messy kitchen table and the dishes in the sink,

the dog toys scattered and left like a hurried toddler lives here,

the kitchen island full of evidence that some of my people do still live here, the ceilings that aren’t fixed and tables that have bright spots worn into them from years of long family talks at this table…

these are the joy drops that fill my heart to over flowing.

Tonight was nearly perfect…only having the rest of my people here joining the noise and chaos and belly laughs would have made this night perfection.

This life, with all of its everything…I wouldn’t change it for anything. Tonight- the joy drops are leaking out of my eyes and I know my God is catching every one as I treasure all of this up in my heart-

– every messy joy filled bit.