Initiate and Create the Little Things and Find Joy

Ever wonder how to be joyful?

 

I wake up, groggy and slow. It’s another 10 minutes before my alarm should ring, but something has woken me, a footstep, the click tap of a hard object being set down on the bedside table. I think,”What does he (Mark, my husband) want? Why can’t it wait? Why does he have to make noise and awaken me early?”

Grumbling.

I roll over and peek out of the slits of my eyes. He’s gone. I glance to the side of my bed and see my favorite coffee mug waiting for me. Mark has not only poured my coffee but also added the exact amount of creamer and sweetener I like and delivered it to my bedside.

And I grumbled?

I feel so ashamed.

This tiny little act by my husband changed my grumpy, grumbling attitude immediately and filled me with joy. Our day might have started differently, both of us wrapped up in ourselves and all we need to do.

Understand, not everyone has a Mark to set their coffee at their bedside table. Maybe you don’t. Maybe I don’t always as certainly he doesn’t spoil me like this every morning. I can’t judge my day on the things others can do for me. I can only realize the affect this small event has had on my emotions and comfort and learn from it.

I realize I have that power, too – that power to initiate and create little things to make a huge difference for someone else and for myself. To be joyful. To create joy.

Those little things are vital to living a joy-filled life. Little things which bring joy don’t have to be for me; they can just as easily FROM me. I imagine making someone else feel a little more special, a little less grumpy.

I like that thought.

How can you be joyful? What little things can you initiate and create? For yourself? For others? For God?