Joyful on The First Day of the Year!

"You will show me the path of life;

In Your Presence is fullness of joy;

At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

Psalm 16:11

In keeping with my new "One Word" for 2020, "Joyful", I want to start the new year off right by practicing being joyful from the very beginning, no matter how things are going...

The pictures of our coffee/tea mugs could have been different, in that when we woke up this morning the coffee pot, which is set on a timer to brew the coffee before we wake up, had not done its job. There was NO coffee in the pot! And upon pushing the button on the electric hot water tea-kettle to begin its boiling, nothing happened! There was no electricity in that part of the kitchen! Upon further inspection, we were very thankful to note that the refrigerator and microwave were still working, and other lights were working...just not the electrical outlets on that particular wall where the coffee pot and tea pot are placed. My first thought was that a breaker had probably tripped, but that was not the case.  

My next thought was..."I am going to be joyful regardless of these circumstances!"  And so we moved the coffee pot and the tea pot to a different location where there was still electricity and they started their jobs of brewing the coffee and boiling the water for my cup of tea!

Meanwhile, I sent a text message to a fellow who does electrical handyman work on the side, and asked him if he could come check things out whenever he had time, but certainly not today on a holiday.  However, he texted back that he would be there in five minutes, and indeed, before I finished reading his response, I looked outside and his truck was pulling in the driveway! Thankfully we were dressed, well, not like for going out or seeing people...still kind of groggy, no makeup, no hair combed, waiting for coffee and tea, but at least we were dressed in decent coverings for the morning after New Year's Eve. (Which we did not stay up to watch).

And he was joyful and pleasant and happy to help us. Thankfully, there was nothing seriously wrong...something we should have figured out on our own, but in our groggy, no coffee or tea state we just didn't think about it hard enough...the GFCI reset button had popped, and all we would have needed to do was push it back in...but we didn't see it and didn't think of it in our groggy pre-coffee or tea state of mind.  (and this house is still new to us, and we don't really know where all those things are)

So while he was here on essentially a dry run, a little "lightbulb" went off in my head and I asked him if he could connect a new motion detector spotlight fixture at our back door, which was a Christmas gift from our son, but no one had had the time or ability to install it yet.  He was very happy to do so, and we were happy to pay him for his services rendered, which by the way, was extremely reasonable all things considered.  

And so, what started out as a test to see just how "joyful" I was going to be under somewhat frustrating circumstances, turned out to be a blessing in disguise, and all day long I was thinking about what this "joyful journey" is going to look like this year.

 It was a beautiful day, although chilly, but I spent some time outside enjoying looking at the new rye grass that is growing on our backyard where we had some dirt work done a month or so ago. Isn't it pretty? I know, it is only rye grass that lasts through the winter, and it will dry up in the summer, but it sure looks pretty right now, and I am so thankful we planted it.

 Even the bunnies are enjoying laying in the green grass. It must feel like spring to them!!

And I found true joy in watching the birds come and go to the bird feeder...this Chickadee has found a "room with a view" of the pond!

Speaking of the pond, did you see those pictures of the Canadian Geese on the pond yesterday? In case you missed them, here's a few pictures for you to enjoy along with me. If these don't make you joyful, I don't know what will.  I wish you could have heard them honking at each other. There were at least ten of them swimming around on the pond all day long. I didn't get anything else done all morning for watching them!!

 This one looks like they are racing, and the bigger one is saying "Honk Honk, move out of my way!"

 I love the reflections in the water...no two pictures are alike. Our God is an awesome God. He paints everything with so much beauty for us to enjoy.

These two were getting brave and coming closer to shore. I really don't want them on the shore as they can be quite messy, but they stayed in the water and enjoyed fishing around for minnows all day long.

That's probably enough, and I know you may have already seen these if you are on my Facebook page, but I have enjoyed looking at them so much that I just wanted to share them with you again just in case you missed them!

Okay, that's all for tonight...The first day of the New Year...(but you probably won't see this until tomorrow...and who knows what joys we will experience then?  God knows!!)

"The Lord is my strength and my shield;

My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped;

Therefore my heart greatly rejoices,

And with my song I will praise Him."

Psalm 28:7

Good Night my friends!