Find Your Joy by Liimu

One of the greatest things about having children is the unexpected things they teach us about how to live life fully. Oh, did you think it was our job to teach them? Well, with four children I find that I generally learn a lot more from them than they do from me. And I am more than happy to pass the knowledge on. 

Take my five year old for instance. When we arrived on our vacation in Martha’s Vineyard last week, she woke up right along with me and the baby at 6am. My husband was also up so we decided to just take an early walk into town. Because of the ungodly hour, the sprinklers were still on. When my daughter coyly asked if she could run in them, how could I deny her an opportunity to seize a moment of such pure, unadulterated joy? We caught it on video, of course, as she dashed at top speed through the entire field length of sprinklers, shrieking with glee. 

When my 8-year old saw the video, she was determined to recreate the moment. God had other plans. Despite getting up at the exact same time, and going to the exact same place, the sprinklers shut off right before we got there. Amelia was sobbing hysterically, until I explained to her that the sprinkler moment was a spontaneous outcome of her sister’s ability to find her joy. Rather than recreate that moment, we needed to find our own. 

A few moments later, we were standing at the ocean’s edge skipping stones, then enjoying a warm apple fritter at a local coffee shop only to bump into their aunt who had just finished a workout. Amelia even got a ride home! If we’d spent twenty minutes running in the sprinklers, that might not have happened. 

The happy moments we manufacture are wonderful, but nothing compares to the spontaneous moments of joy we are blessed to capture if we have the courage to look for them.