When Joy Comes Without Condition

I can see the water from where I lay. Eyelids squint early, tucked beyond the trees, I witness the calm of His creation in another little corner of the earth.

Hot, sunny days are an exception, in this corner, to the drizzling out the window and overcast heavens.


And what we are reminded of in these conditions is that joy does not come with condition. 


When overcast does not keep you confined to peering through your window and when a little drizzle does not stop you from jumping in, there is joy to be had - even when the conditions are not just right.

Like I heard in service yesterday, we don't receive just when we are in the right place to receive - when the conditions are just right. But, we receive because we are not in that right place. Because we need to receive in order to live. Live fully.

If every moment is a gift, will we receive it - in spite of the conditions? In spite of our condition? 

Only when we receive every moment as a gift can there be joy.

And as Ann Voskamp points out in her book, One Thousand Gifts, "...giving thanks is the way into joy." So, we do this - we receive by giving thanks. 

And as 1 Thessalonians 5:18 states, "Give thanks in all circumstances..."

I can see the water from where I lay, and by the end of the day we will have submerged fully into the beauty of what is; not depending upon condition (as in circumstance), which determines happiness; but without condition, which determines joy.

#120-135 of all this thankfulness for:

a seventeen hour car ride

a cooler filled with lunch for a park

rain throughout the day

sunshine peaking through the clouds

fog resting on the water

overcast skies

grandparents

new life

boat rides after dinner

bat mitten

ping pong

water tucked beyond the trees

exploring something new

anticipating three-weeks of this

reading program going strong

working my way to One Thousand Gifts and beyond of gratitude and linking up with Multitudes on Mondays at Holy Experience, Sol Deo Gloria at Finding Heaven, Hear it on Sunday, Use it on Monday at Graceful: Faith in the Everyday, and Playdates at The Wellspring