Joy

I love summer.  It’s one of the biggest reasons I became a teacher.  About a week into the summer every year, I ask myself how I find time to work and get everything done that gets done from June to August.  This one has been a little different. 

When Nanny fell and broke her hip five weeks before I got out of school, I knew that my summer and my entire life as I knew it was going to be different.  Although I was thankful that the timing worked out to where I could become her primary care giver during the day, I was very aware that beach trips and lazy days poolside were going to be few and far between.  And that’s ok.  I have been claiming the verse in Ecclesiastes 3 that says “there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven.”  This is my time to soak up every last bit of wisdom and love that I can from a woman who lavishes it onto me.  This is my time to pay her back for every dollar she’s stuck in my purse when I wasn’t looking, every day she picked me up from school, every person she’s sworn to despise forever just because they hurt my feelings.  It’s the first summer I haven’t worked since I turned 15 and the one with the biggest paycheck.         

Lately the notion of having fun, having joy and just being plain ole happy has come up again and again.   When Skip left for the last race, he told me to “Have a fun week.”  This aggravated me to no end in light of how he knew I would be spending the week; I was not going on a cruise, I was spending the week at home-alone- with several doctor’s appointments on the calendar, watching my Nanny process a cancer diagnosis.  When I expressed by doubt that fun was in my future, he pressed on, encouraging me that I had the week to “read whenever you want, meet Kimberly for walks, and spend time with Nanny.” While I do enjoy all these things, I still would not equate them to having a fun week. 

When the new sermon series began last week on JOY, it really got me thinking about the difference between having fun and having joy.  Joy is promised to come from the Lord.  We can experience joy simply because we are saved and we can experience joy through our worship of our Savior.  Nanny always says, “Now I’m not bragging, I’m just stating a fact…” so let me borrow that to preface this next sentence.  I’m not bragging, I am just stating a fact that throughout this summer, I have experienced an abundance of joy.  At times, I’ve even had a great deal of fun.  But I honestly cannot remember a day that was not filled with joy and thanksgiving. 

Since we entered this season after Nanny’s fall and the discovery of the mass in her lung, a lot of sweet friends and family members have said to me, “How are you?”  The first word that comes to mind is lucky.  I have a husband who is patient when he is only home for four days at a time and I spend all four of them cooking breakfast for someone who is not him.  I have a Nanny who has outlived all of her siblings, who was there when I went to college and there when I returned, who bought my wedding dress and helped me plant my first tomatoes.  I am the one she would rather be with than anyone else in the world.  Some people will go their whole lives and not be that to another person.  I am so lucky to have been loved like that for nearly 30 years.  How can I not be joyful?  What better reason is there to rejoice?

We will be finding out more this week about what is ahead for Nanny.  We suspect that other health factors and her personal wishes are going to limit treatment options.  My prayer is that whatever lies down the road, we can maintain our joy and make the most of the time we’re given.  Having fun is not always an option, but having joy is.  I choose joy. 

Thanks for your prayers.