Recapture joy

How much of my life have I lived absent of joy? Joy costs nothing and is always available, yet I’ve chosen at times to live without it.

There is a difference in dreaming for the future and wishing for the future. Dreaming inspires you to move forward; wishing causes you to resent where you are.

I have often spent today wishing things will be different tomorrow.

• I wish I had a different job.
• I wish I could a dreamy marriage.
• I wish I had a bigger house.
• I wish I made more money.
• I wish my kids would sleep through the night.
• I wish my kids would get out of diapers.
• I wish I get that promotion.
• I wish my spouse was more like someone else’s spouse.
• I wish I could sell more, accomplish more, do more.

Wishing for the next stage of life is the quickest way to lose joy in this stage of life.

If I could, I’d go back and savor the small house and the beat up cars and the sleepless nights and the blown out diapers and the small beginnings.

We can never get time back.

So often we spend more time thinking about how the next thing will bring us joy that we forfeit the joy of that moment.

Contentment is the pathway to joy.

You want to experience joy immediately…be content. When we are content with who we are and where we are in life, joy is the biproduct of contentment.

I’m asking God to help me be content these days. 

I don’t want to miss what’s now in favor of wishing for what’s next.