Notice Joy

Are we aware of our joy? the joy of others? Do we notice when the sun shines, the leaves turn, the birds sing, etc.?

I love to watch little children as they express their joy with such freedom. I suppose you could also say that they also show their disapproval in too free a way (I am thinking of the tantrums and sulking that can also occur); however, I have so many scenes in my head where the children just spread joy by their exuberance. One of these is the picture of a class of little ones learning to swim and the smiles and shouts of joy when they managed to reach the first the instructor and then return to the side of the pool. Another scene that has never left me was a little boy of perhaps two or three years who kept climbing the steps of a porch to run throw himself off of it into the arms of his grandfather. The joy of both was a delight to watch, but also the blind faith of the little one that the grandfather's arms would always be there to catch him.

Notice where you have felt and expressed joy today?

Mother Stuart said, "Do not lose a particle of your spiritual joy for any failure that you find in yourself to come up to your aspirations and to all that God has done for you. He is not disappointed for He knows exactly what we are like, how sensitive, how easily wounded, how too easily discouraged."