Sunday JOY!

FROM:
Sister Deb Papp,
Joy comes from simple and natural things, mists over meadows, sunlight on leaves, the path of the moon over water. Even rain and wind and stormy clouds bring joy, just as knowing animals and flowers and where they love. Sigmurd F. Olson

Let us for a few moments lay aside our grieving and notice, as thought nothing else existed, the world around us. Of course, it's better to do this if you can be in a lovely place. But there are always simple things around us that could gladden our hearts if we would let them. Children rejoice in sunshine and rain, in puddles to walk through, in the way light reflects off a fragment of colored glass, in the way grass shoots up through cracks in a sidewalk. For children, the immediate world is what calls to them, brings them joy or sadness. We carry our sadness with us for a long time. But let's not allow it to call all the shots! Let's give ourselves a break by taking note of the springtime -- the way trees, flowers, and bushes seem to erupt overnight, and the days lengthen, the air grows soft, the birds come back, the rabbits reappear on the lawn.  **To allow myself to revel in simple joys will ease me into new hope, new courage for my life**
I just got off the phone with Deb and asked her if she wrote the above inspirational email.
She took it out of a book that a friend gave her but she had to rewrite it for us to read.
She told me to stop calling it "my cancer". It's "the cancer". I agree. She also recommended that I listen to lots of praise music. Today in church we celebrated the children and sang "Jesus loves me", and I think that qualifies.