Today is a good day. All days have good in them, I know, but today has just been good. Just yesterday I wrote out a list of the things that are easy for me to fall into that I think make me feel good. They seem comforting in the moment, but when the moment or time has passed I do not feel good or better or joyful. Instead I feel yucky. That’s honestly the best word to describe how I feel – yucky. I want to continue what I’m doing because what I’m doing feels good, but it’s not fulfilling me. It’s empty. It’s mindless. Especially right now we may need moments or days of straight up vegging. We may not get dressed or may watch our shows all day long. We may have pop-tarts for breakfast, cereal for lunch, and eggos for dinner. Okay, maybe that’s just my house. What I’m talking about is when you keep doing the things that don’t fill you up and then you feel guilty when you come up from your discontentedness. It’s a nasty cycle and the only thing I have found to break it is to do the things you know comfort you and make you strong.
Listen here… I mess up with this one thousand times a day. I believe though, and am living proof if you make your decision to be the one that strengthens you and comforts your soul, that’s where the breakthrough comes. If I am purposefully making choices that are beneficial to me I’m less likely to end up in a place of regret or disharmony at any point in my day.
So, let me tell you why my day was good today.
I got up an hour and a half earlier than yesterday. I got dressed when I woke up (let’s not get wild here, of course it was yoga pants) including my shoes so I was ready to take on my day. I made my bed, drank my coffee (next to my man working from home), I read my Bible and journaled. I ran to the store and when I got home I made us all lunch. Then, I did something that brought my heart joy, something I have wanted to do for years, probably a good ten. I made my own natural dyes for us to color Easter eggs. Oh my word alive – something shifted. It’s such a small thing, but not really. It was something that my heart had been craving to do that I never took the time for. I taught our daughter how to boil eggs and I created six different colors made from onion skins, blueberries, turmeric, coffee, red wine, and parsley. SO FUN!!!
The joy of being in the kitchen just continued for me. I made a beautiful layered salad, roasted a red pepper for our red sauce tonight and got that simmering, chopped up some carrots and celery to snack on, and while the pasta is cooking chocolate chip cookies will be baking in the oven. This is what brings me joy. I would love to hear what brings you joy. I’ll tell you something, though. My day would not have gone this way if I would have made different choices this morning. I was up earlier, dressed, filled my heart and mind with how much I am loved by Jesus and then… from all else flowed. It’s not always easy and it’s not always what I want to choose. Golly! Feelings are a thing – a real thing, hard to fight and sometimes difficult to decipher whether true or not.
I urge you. Make a list. Write down the things that you think make you feel good but ultimately drain you. Then write your opposing list – the things that are sometimes hard to choose, but totally and completely worth it! Take each day as they come – take them!