The Greatest Joy:
Since I coach two sports I am not typically home until mid evening most nights, late evening to late night the other nights when there’s a game. Being that we’re right in the heart of our season now, it seems like every other night I am not home until way past bedtime. On those nights the only time I literally get to see my baby girl Joy is when she wakes up in the middle of the night crying for food or to be changed.
Even when I get home “early” there is less than an hour until bedtime for her. In that time we sometimes give her a bath if we’re lucky, she eats, poops, gets changed and goes to sleep. The point is; I simply just don’t get enough time with her. Teaching in a public school I get to see kids laugh and cry all the time, but unfortunately with Joy I mostly just get to see her cry- despite being a very happy baby.
I was sitting on the couch today holding my baby Joy, which is something I don’t get to do nearly enough as made evident by my ramblings already. Today however I got to just sit with her, hold her, and enjoy my time with her. While sitting there I was making my baby faces and oohing and aahing as most people do with a baby. It made her smile, which in turn made me smile.
I went to reposition her when my left hand moved against her rib cage and she let out this loud giggle. I looked and she had this big smile on her face. Once I had her held steady, I moved my fingers across her rib cage again and she started giggling again. I found out by accident she was ticklish, but boy did I enjoy it.
The next 30 minutes I just sat there with her, tickling her while she giggled and laughed hysterically. It actually was contagious. I began laughing as well. I kept tickling her and she kept laughing and giggling more and more, and so I kept laughing and giggling more and more. This trend continued until my sides literally hurt. My wife even came in to check up on us and began laughing as well. I looked at her and said that of all the sounds in the world, hearing Joy laugh was my absolute favorite. This is only the 3rd time I’ve heard her laugh and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.
Sometimes we get so caught up in the things of life we forget to laugh and truly experience joy. In my life, I sometimes work so much that I just don’t have time for Joy. My wife and I decided that was best so she could be a stay at home mom. When I get home at 11pm and leave by 6:30 the next morning, I don’t want to wake her and my moments are short and to the point, if I even wake up in the middle of the night.
How many times do we get so caught up in life, work, relationships, worries, fears, religion or any number of other things that we forget to just simply take time out for God and enjoy His presence. I know it’s easy to get busy but is it worth not spending time with God? Is it worth missing out on the joy in life the God wants you to experience?
Often times my hardest days are following a late game- not because I didn’t sleep but because I didn’t get to spend time the day before with my wife and baby girl, talking and communicating with them. If we don’t spend time with God, aren’t our days like that also? It’s not so much the day we don’t get to spend with Him that is hard, but often times the next day we feel sluggish or things just seem to go wrong. So I leave you with this: have you laughed with God today? Will you sit down and enjoy His presence? His company? If you truly take time for Him today, I can assure your tomorrow will be brighter and filled with more Joy.
He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy. Job 8 :21
JM
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