Sunday, January 30, 2011

THE GIFTS OF JOY!

Many times I have thought about the meaning of the words Happiness and Joy. We are told to seek for happiness and joy in our lives. It can be elusive and not that easy to capture sometimes in our everyday live experiences. I remember listening to a program that suggested that one keep a happiness or joy journal. By doing this one would learn to recognize in their lives what makes them truly happy. Many would say that happiness is found in money, good fortune, beauty, worldly recognition and respect, material possessions and etc. To me  happiness often is found in the simple things of life. Learning each day to appreciate both the non tangible and physical blessings in everyday experiences. Seek to enjoy the smell and the beauty of a rose, the peace of a beautiful sunset, the taste of chocolate, the feelings of accomplishment and the love that surrounds us within our relationships. 

Now Joy to me although often synonymous with happiness means much more. I feel you can be happy during your everyday experiences; but to me Joy means something more. A more exquisite feeling inside of you. Happiness stays for a while; but joy sometimes drops by for just a moment of time.
I do feel Happiness most of the time. In general I view life on the positive side. To me moments of Joy come in other ways; spiritual ways and feelings. For example witnessing a child's birth, watching a child moving forward in their pursuits in life; seeing them achieve wholesome goals in religious beliefs such as missions and temple marriage. Also, witnessing their eternal marriages, holding their new born child and watching them bless the newborn baby. It's like a cycle of life; you live your own and then add too it the joy of children and grandchildren.
One great joy is feeling inside your testimony of the Savior and truly knowing you are a daughter or son of God. Feeling the joy of a prayer answered; a blessing given. These are true moments of joy.
I have decided to keep a journal of my joys and share them on Sunday evenings. Some of these joys will be reflective and some will be happenings in the present. 
Today, I want to share the Joy my husband brings to me.  Yesterday, he turned 65 years old. It's rather hard to realize we now qualify for Medicare. He received his card recently in the mail and I already received mine in November. Therefore I am the oldest in our family. He likes to say that I was born in 1945 and he is in 1946; therefore, I am a year older but in reality it is just two months. I can't say that turning 65 is a joy; but I felt happy on our birthdays.
I take great joy in my husband. He is a very very good man and I feel we have an exceptionally good marriage. It is a marriage for Eternity. We were married in the Salt Lake Temple and I treasure the memories of that day. As soon as we started to date; I knew inside he was to be mine. We have joked many times that we chased each other round in the pre-existence. Secretly, I think it is true. He is my very best friend. He has always been there for me.
We seldom disagree. In fact in the 43 years of our marriage I would say that he and I have only had maybe a handful of arguments that would be defined as serious.
Just to share a couple of thoughts about him. When we had each of our children; he was so very happy; together we were joyful. This was one of those exquisite moments of time. We have had 6 children who have blessed our home with many joyous times. These moments came with each of their births, blessings, achievements, missions, temple marriages and now grandchildren and our great grandchild.
When the children were young he was always helping me in caring for our growing family. I couldn't number the  many times that he walked the floors and rocked our babies when they were small and when they were ill. Housework was just part of his service to me when I felt overwhelmed with motherhood duties and it continues today. I actually feel he is a better cook than me. Often, I will set some items out for dinner and I will be busy doing something and before I know it he has created a wonderful dinner.  We have always assisted and helped one another in our assignments in the church. We find great joy in Temple service together. Our greatest desire is to serve one or more missions together for our faith. I know with him these will bring many moments of joy.
He is not afraid to show his emotion; and often we both feel overwhelmed with feeling of joy that brings tears to our eyes. He is sensitive to my needs and the continuing needs of our children.
I will share a few thoughts that I shared with him yesterday on his Birthday.

Happy Birthday to my dearest husband Roger.



I don't know how many times I have said this; "Star Light, Star bright, wish I may I wish I might have the wish I wished tonight." I started wishing upon a star then I found you and wished no more."
Thank you for being the best husband ever. you are a loving and caring Dad, Grandpa and Great Grandpa.
I feel so blessed to be the mother of your children and much of who they are came from you and your determination to live the kind of life Our Heavenly Father wants us to live.
Thank you for your testimony of our Heavenly Father, and our Savior.
Thank you for loving the temple and desiring to go often and also to labor within; which brings great joy to our souls.
Thanks for being a righteous priesthood holder and for the many times you have blessed our children and me. Through the years these blessings have brought peace, comfort and healing to our family. 
Thanks for all of your hard and dedicated work which has brought our family great blessings of plenty.
Thank you for tenderly loving us all. Thanks for all the moments of Joy we have shared with each other throughout our years together! May we have an eternity full of joy!!

Perhaps, take a moment to think of
and share a few of your own joys.

3 comments:

Susan Anderson said...

What a beautiful tribute to your husband. You are both lucky!

=)

Barb said...

Hi LeAnn!

What a beautiful post! I think it's important to recognize the joy in our lives. So many of us have joyful moments, but don't acknowledge them as such! Little things make me happy, like my big black dog giving me a sloppy kiss on my toes in the morning, my sweet little grandkids giving me a hug or calling me on the phone. My husband kissing me good-bye each morning and telling me he loves me, soft music, candlelight, having enough of the things I need. Of course the gospel and all the good things that come with it and good friends . . . like you! And I agree with you, you and Roger are a perfect couple... :0)

Much love,
Barb

Dolly said...

Hello LeAnn!

Thanks for checking on me and my blog last month. I love reading your news each week and hearing about your sweet family. We've never met, but I feel like we are distant relatives:)

My joy is full when I spend time with my family also. I love hearing my children bear testimony of their lives changed by Christ. I love hearing about my husband's job-as he's worked on the Salt Lake Temple over the past few weeks. Everyday they'd start with a prayer and feel the Spirit guide them as they worked.

*We celebrate our 24th wedding anniversary this month...and can hardly believe how the time has flown past over the years!