Routine Joy

This was a good weekend. Not because we did anything amazing, though we did celebrate the birthday of one of my sons. But even his special day was a fairly regular day – church, lunch, afternoon wresling clinic (he would on his birthday) and then pizza and blueberry pie (his request) for dinner before the males went to a moive.

Certainly not much to write about. Only it is, and I’ll tell you why… What played out in our home this weekend is exactly what Ecclesiates (the book my husband is preaching through) exhorts us to: Joy.

But the invitation to joy often alludes us as we struggle with life teetering between highs and lows, laughter and sorrow, broken and beautiful.  While life is not all doom and gloom, we act as if it should be Disney World- all the time. As the book’s writer points out, we seek to find meaning in what is meaningless and hold on to what is fleeting. In the process of our vain pursuit to securing happiness, we actually lose joy

If we could only realize – we don’t have to go manufacturing joy the way we do our photo shoots, perfectly crafted, so the world sees us enjoying life whether we are or not. Success, spectacular settings, special celebrations, selfies with celebrities, summer vacations – certainly can bring joy, but never required for joy to be had. This is because joy is already here – right where we are. In front of our faces. No moutaintop moment needed.

Joy is present in the everyday moments, in the midst of the repetition and routine. In the mundane and menial – like trying to get the kids to bed, doing housework, driving carpool, watching Frozen for the 50,000 time! But we grow weary of the same “chores,” tired of the people we are with, and bored with life so we escape into our phones and other outlets (GNO, golf, whatever it is) falling prey to the lie of the Garden that we need something more to fill us – to give us joy – in order to enjoy life.

I’m guilty, too. On any given day, it’s easy to go down the path of ungratefulness. But God never grows tired of the routine. To illustrate it’s true, my husband said to consider God’s delight in telling the sun to set, each and every evening, and to rise again the next morn. It never gets old and even afer seeing it a million times before, the beauty is still there.

So what if we slowed down and lowered our expectations?

What if we viewed what God has given as gifts to find fulfillment in as He designed them to be?

And that is what happened this weekend.

We experienced pure joy in the most simple of ways. Things like the five of us sitting at the table together enjoying a mediocre meal. Watching the Thunder play lose but still having fun joking around during commercials. The kids going hiking for a sibling bonding day. Sitting in the pool. Laughing at the dog. Gathering with our church family for ice cream. And, discovering a journal I had recorded the early childhood of my birthday boy in.

We read the entire journal out loud, laughing at the memories and amazed by what we noticed then about my son’s personality we see so clearly now. But in light of Ecclesiastes something that really hit my husband and me is everything recorded happened in the midst of the mundane! Funny conversations and sometimes embarrasing moments while running errands, crazy antics and mimicking Daddy while at home, and my observations made while watching him play and interact with his siblings on regular days. Things I would have missed had I been too busy; things I’m sure I did miss because I was. Some things so simple I’m surprised I wrote them down, but glad I did. 

Most everything recorded we had forgotten, but the memories came flooding back as if they were yesterday and in recalling them we had a blast. All I can say is the writer of Ecclesiastes is right. Enjoying life to the fullest happens right where we are and who we are with, and I don’t want to miss out because I’m looking for something greater.