Along the journey towards the greater, there are many small, daily steps to better understand oneself, God, and others. This is one of my “daily steps”.
I sometimes imagine what would be possible if I understood, every minute of every day, the unfettered #joy God has for me.
This past Friday was my annual “Ugh, I forgot about Santa pictures!” freak out. I steeped myself up for chaos and brought my three pajama laden children to the mall to get our photo at about 5 PM on a Friday. We pre-registered this time so the line wasn’t super long, but it was enough for me to have to continuously peel three wrestling little boys up off the floor for at least half an hour. They were so full of joy for this experience I thought their little hearts would burst. And that I might just lose what little #patience I came with.
We survived though, and they got to meet Santa and tell him all their hearts desires. At the end of the mini-session, he asked for a hug… and we got this photo. Staring at it when it came into my inbox later that evening, I thought perhaps this is the unfettered #joy God feels when God wraps arms around us.
I love this quote from #GregBoyle in his book #TatoosOnTheHeart about joy and #God: “God, I guess is more expansive than every image we think rhymes with God. How much greater is the God we have than the one we think we have. More than anything else, the truth of God seems to be about a joy that is a foreigner to disappointment and disapproval. This joy just doesn’t know what we are talking about when we focus on the restriction of not measuring up… The God, who is greater than God, has only one thing on Her mind, and that is to drop, endlessly rose petals on our heads. Behold the One who can’t take His eyes off of you. Marinate in the vastness of that.”
How can you pause to notice God’s #joy for you today?
