I’ve been in bed with a tummy bug for three days. Vomiting is just no fun at all and so I have been trying to keep my mind busy. With that in mind I have been going through some old belongings.
My mum has recently made the HUGE a move into a retirement village in Paraparaumu Beach. She is in the sweetest two-bedroom home which has been upgraded so everything is brand new. She has been so busy since she moved there that we need to text first in order to find a time we can talk on the phone. It’s taken a few weeks but she is feeling settled and has been happily making new friends and reconnecting with old ones.
Before she moved every drawer was opened and every box inspected and a number of items from my past were unearthed. I lived in Perth for fifteen years and I guess I left bits and pieces with her which were then lost to the corners of both cupboards and time.
One of these finds was a book. It’s the children’s book The Tanglewood Secret by Patricia St John. I had this book read aloud to me when I was about 11 years old by my mum. We then went in to read The Rainbow Garden by the same author. When I think of these books, I feel all warm and snuffly inside.
So, while feeling awful I have re-read both again and they still make me feel all warm inside. The Rainbow Garden is centred around the verse -
You will show me the path of life, in Your presence is fullness of joy
Fullness of joy - wow what a concept. To be filled to the brim with joy sounds jolly nice, doesn’t it?
It got me thinking about the word joy and its definition - the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires.
When I write or hear the word joy I think of Christmas. I adore everything about Christmas and if given my way the whole house would light up! I live with Greg the Grinch so our place only glows instead ;-)
It’s a word that’s often associated with that time of year and that makes me think of smiling or giggling. I remember giggling my way through many a Christmas morning and I am sure you were the same.
So, if joy is giggling and I can only really do it properly when I am with God then I think heaven is going to be a lot of fun. It will be full to the brim and running down your chin kind of fun!