What Are Your 10 Greatest Joys? ~ Day 21

The Gospel - I feel so blessed and grateful for this amazing blessing in my life.  I am very grateful for the knowledge it brings me that families are forever and I will see my son Tyson again.  I honestly don't know where I'd be without the gospel in my life.

Jesus Christ and His Atonement - The more I learn about the atonement and what the Savior has done for me, the more in awe I am of this gift.  I am in great need of His forgiveness for all my mistakes and it gives me hope to know that I don't have to be perfect right now to partake of this precious gift.  It is given to me freely because He paid the price so I can return and live with Him again someday thanks to repentance.

 


Being alive - I have learned from some tough life experiences that life is short and none of us know how much time we have here on this earth.  We must take advantage of EACH moment while here and CHERISH them.  Seize the day!  Enjoy each and every day!  LIVE!  Do the things you want to do while you can!  And never take a single breath for granted.  Life IS a gift!

My family - being a mother- Ever since I was a little girl the one thing I wanted to be more than anything else was a mother.  I am passionate about motherhood and the influence a mother can have in a child's life.  I am so blessed to be the mother of five amazing boys and I never take that for granted.  I am so grateful I was able to be a stay at home mom while they were growing up because it would have killed me to miss out on those years. Being a mom is by far my most greatest blessing in life!  I love being a mom more than anything else in the world.

Children- Little children bring me so much joy!  I love to be around them so much.  In fact at big family gatherings while all the adults are visiting with one another, I am usually out playing with the little ones.  There is just something about a little child that I can't get enough of.  I truly prefer their company over many adult's company.  They just are so precious.  I can clearly see why we are admonished in the scriptures to "become as a little child", because they are so pure and so innocent and so much fun!

 

 

 
Animals - Oh my, how I love love love animals!  No matter where I go, if I see an animal, I am drawn to it.  Especially cats and dogs.  But I love them all.  When I am out on my runs, I deliberately go on certain routes so I can say hi to my animal friends.  I have a few dogs, horses, a llama, and even some goats that I enjoy stopping and talking to for a few minutes.  They just do something for my soul.  Yes, I could end up being that crazy cat lady if I was ever a widow or didn't have my boys from preventing that from happening! haha  Just kidding... well, I think!

 

 

Nature- I never knew how much I loved and needed nature until I became a runner.  Since then I have learned that it just does something for my soul, kind of like animals and children do.  I only run in the outdoors.  I don't even own a treadmill for that very reason.  Even if it's bitter cold or blazing hot, I still go out because I NEED the calmness, the peace, the whatever it is that nature brings to my soul.  I can tell a difference when I haven't spent any time outside. It is like a healing balm to me.  If I need to solve a problem, the first place I go is outside and find a spot to think and meditate.  

Serving others- Helping and serving others brings me a lot of joy.  I think it's just a natural human thing that we all feel inside when we are helping someone else.  When I serve others it helps me to see how blessed I am and how much I have been given.  I am not so good at being served, but I am trying to do better with that.  The only thing I hate about serving others is that I don't do more of it.  I have a long list each day of the things I "want" to do for others, but rarely does it all get checked off.  My goal is to do a kindness to someone every single day that I normally wouldn't do for them.  If I keep it simple, then it happens more often.

Making others happy- This one can go along with serving others in a lot of ways, but it also brings me so much joy when I have done something that really makes someone's day and that's not always through service.  There is nothing that can bring me more joy than to see that I have brought joy to someone else and somehow made their day.

Hehehe

My good health- I do not take my good health for granted.  Dave is always telling me how healthy I am and he would know because he sees so many people each day that are in my age bracket that don't enjoy the good health I do.  I am so grateful for it because I am able to do so many things that I couldn't do if I didn't have such good health.  I know it is a huge blessing, and it brings me a lot of joy to have a body that is healthy.

Those are the BIGGIES....or what I would call the "Sunday School" answers - or the answers that seem to be the correct answers to give on this topic.  They definitely are what bring me joy, but there are also many LITTLE things that bring me so much joy as well.  Those top 10 are:

• Emails, letters, texts, or phone calls from my boys
• Going to lunch with friends
• Going to the cabin or on vacations with my family
• The ocean and tropical places
• Going to a movie and getting buttered popcorn
• Girl trips or girl's day outs
• Writing
• Rainy or stormy days
• Running (especially in the above)
• Dave's foot massages

Oh gosh, I am just getting started!  There are so many, but I am going to be good and limit it to just 10 this time!