Small Joys

I have three children, all daughters. 20, 16, and 12. For years and years we had small ones around the house. They made messes. They were demanding. They were loud. And they were cute. Now that we don't have so much of the cute stuff around, I will admit that I miss it. I think God's greatest joys in life are the ones that are small and very unique. Some little thing your child said or some small cute thing you saw her do in her sleep. I've written here before about thinking small, thinking local, and thinking personal. When it comes to joys, look for the little ones. It doesn't get any better than that. Jennifer Dukes Lee wrote about an absolutely wonderful and hilarious moment with her daughter. She told her to highlight the parts of Genesis that she liked.

With her own green highlighter, she started at the beginning: Genesis 1. It's the story we'd just studied in her Sunday school class, and for her bedtime story, she wanted to read it in her very own Bible. We lay on her bed, under the patchwork quilt, just the two of us. Daughter and mom. Bible resting on daughter's legs. She begins, highlighter poised: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth." She colors each sentence as she reads, stumbling over words like "formless" and "hovering," which she pronounces HOOVER-ing, like the vacuum. "What's the Spirit of God, Mommy?" she asks. "Is that the Holy Spirit?" "Yes, Lydia," I respond. "Isn't that cool? The Holy Spirit was there, even in the beginning."...Read More