241- The Joy of the Lord

In Nehemiah 8 :10 says, Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” 

I love this text! It is one of those texts we have known about since we were in diapers.... well almost.  Perhaps one of the very first memory verses we ever learned.  It is simple, it is catchy, in fact I remember singing it as a child, but I love it more for the story and the context.  This group of people have just been hearing the laws of God. They are realizing their short comings, their sin.  They are for the first time understanding their wretchedness.  Their sorrow is huge.  They are weeping and wailing.  That is when Nehemiah says to them,  "Alright, this is going no where.  We are going to stop reading the law, I want you to go back to your camps, feast on some amazing food, drink, share with each other, make sure everyone is enjoying rich delicious food, stop the crying, experience the joy!!!!! The joy of the Lord is your strength. 

Today I had the pleasure of laughing, watching students celebrate as they graduated. Today, I had a delightful lunch with my son and his girl!  Today I packed up and drove home!  Today was filled with joyful things.  I wore my Toms (red wedges) for graduation and thought of my time shopping with Sheri in Seattle, it brought a smile to my heart!  I had dinner with my husband :).  I was able to hug and kiss him! :) I sooooo  enjoyed the joy parts of today. 

When I started this blog I had just returned from a woman of Faith conference, where they had a Christian comedian.  I laughed and laughed and laughed.  Laughed until I cried.   I laughed until my stomach hurt.  It was so therapeutic!

Today laughing, celebrating, being with people I love, watching the joy in others was also therapeutic. So many times when you are doing serious work, with purpose, when you struggle with sorrow, pain, or (C), it is easy to think laughter and doing things that are just fun or just silly are just not that important.  Yet when God's children were learning about His desires, when they were understanding their shortcomings, when they were frankly learning about something that was incredibly important, when it became over whelming, they were told to party! After taking a break, after partying, then they were able to go back to the serious work, and move forward. 

I have been way to sober minded for the last couple months.  Obviously overwhelmed!  I am ready to PARTY!!!!! to LAUGH!!!!! I looking forward to finding ways to laugh, finding things that bring great joy!!!!!!! 

Today living MtC was all about joy and laughter!  I am going to be intentional about laughing, partying, finding joy!!!!!