Lighthouse Keepers

Several months ago I did a devotional for a ladies group and I shared very personally on what I had been going through in trying to establish balance in my life. I would like to share the collection of excerpts from other authors as well as my own thoughts here in hopes that I can encourage other women who feel as I did/do.     We began with an attempt to balance on a board that had been laid across a cylinder something like the one pictured here.   Balancing on the board was hard. No one could balance for more than a few seconds. You have to take into account what you are balancing on, which way to lean, how to best keep it balanced while doing other things. After a while it would get quite exhausting.   This is our lives. We try to balance out being a good wife, mother, employee, friend, being involved in ministry. That’s like not just balancing on one board but stacking them up and balancing four or five boards all at once.   Often when...

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 ...

Joy! It has always been a favourite word of mine. Partly because it’s my middle name and I’ve made a collection over the years of quotes and anything really I can get my hands on that say Joy… including my daughter’s name “Joyanna”. But mostly because when you see and spend time with someone who is joyful it is like a breath of fresh air and you walk away feeling uplifted and encouraged. How does one get this joyfulness? Webster's defines it as “the source or cause of delight” So where does your source of delight ultimately come from? There are little simple gifts that make us smile, a warm cup of coffee on a cold morning, watching your child finally comprehend something you have been teaching them, a hug, a walk, time with a friend, a good book, a beautiful song. There are so many things that bring us satisfaction. But what about when you’re having a crummy day and you’ve warmed up your coffee 3 times already and it’s sitting cold again, nothing goes right, dinner burns, ...