The Gift of Joy
I’ll never forget the day when my second oldest, who couldn't have been more then four at the time said to me, “mommy are you happy at me?” And I immediately said “of course I am happy about you. I love you so much!” Then she completely caught me off guard and replied “then smile at me.” Even as I write this I feel the power of those words coming from my little girls mouth. It made my stomach turn. It literally shook me and broke my heart that she could sense that I was obviously not happy and simply did not have joy right then. I could tell her that yes I was happy but I knew she knew better. That day I realized that I had been depriving my sweet precious family of a vey powerful and wonderful gift. The gift of joy. I had had a hard day..or probably a hard week and I had let it drain me of joy and happiness and my dear family had to feel the consequences of it. It was not fair at all. Since then God has so often reminded me of that day and I ...