If you are joyful...

...it will shine in your eyes and in your look, in your conversation and in your countenance. You will not be able to hide it because joy overflows. Joy must be one of the pivots of our life. It is the token of a generous personality. Sometimes it is also a mantle that clothes a life of sacrifice and self-giving. A person who has this gift often reaches high summits. He or she is like a sun in a community. ~Mother Teresa

I know people like this, don't you? I aspire to this. I would especially like for my family to think of me as someone who is joyful, a sun in our community of home. Sometimes I find this so inspiring, so aspirational.

But I have to admit that sometimes--today, for instance--I'm not a sun, I'm a raincloud. A bowl of cold oatmeal. A brittle fall leaf. Rather than overflowing, my joy congeals in wobbly puddles at the bottom of my heart. Telling me to be joyful just mires my feet in guilt. You know how it is sometimes. Instead I lean on hope.

Tomorrow will be better, as I used to whisper in the ears of my young ones at the end of hard days. Tomorrow will be better.

. . .

image via

Comments

[Chiska]

Thanks for being a light to this corner of the world....even on a conjealed joy day.

[Linsey]

I aspire to this, thanks for reminding me of that. Here's to, at the very least, hoping for joy.

[sevensmiles]

I LOVE this quote. Thank you for sharing.
And I'm sorry about the cold-oatmeal day.

xo

[Dionne]

That quote is so great. I need to post that for me to see often.

I'm sorry it's that kind of a day -- we need a good dose of sunshine around these parts. I kinda like cold oatmeal, though:)

[Michelle L.]

love you Annie. I'm not a naturally sunny person either, I have to work at it. But YOU bring me a lot of sunshine.

[Sarah]

We must be on the same page. I'm a sad sack lately...no real reason. My SIL calls it postpartum depression. I birthed my baby (orals) and now I'm blue. Well, not so much blue as COMPLETELY unmotivated to do ANYTHING. Okay, let's call it blue.