How to Find Joy Even While Picking Up Poop Off the Floor

I've been spending a good amount of time lately talking with friends and mentors about this. How to choose to be joyful amidst the trials of every day life. Amidst the tedious sameness of each day or the relentlessness of little ones needing me. Or the feeling of hopelessness during yet another tantrum and that question that haunts me: is it ever going to get better? And today, my own personal thorn in the flesh: cleaning up poo that has been stepped in and tracked all over the floor. For some reason, picking up feces seems to be particularly defeating. It makes me want to cry and scream and give up. Without going into psycho-analysis of why poo-cleaning is so hard on me, let me just talk about what I've been learning from some others who are wiser than me about this subject of joy.

First, I've been learning from a study on the fruit of the Spirit that joy is an action (not a feeling), just like love is. It is not a feeling that comes and goes, but an active decision to be joyful independent of circumstances. And, as long as I've know how hard that can be, I'm also finally really understanding that such joy is only possible through the Holy Spirit dwelling in me. No amount of positive thinking or slow breathing will bring me genuine joy. So, I've been praying a lot more than in the past for the Lord to fill me with His Spirit and to empty me of the sinful reactions of my own heart.

Second, recognizing that the Spirit is working in me, I can still work on my attitude during difficult situations. I can remember the true inspiration for joy- that Jesus Christ died for me and I am a new creation in Him. In the biggest picture of all, I am saved. My fate is sealed - in the most beautiful and sacrificial way - to be with God forever. In that big picture, these trials are the slightest breath of time.

Also, I can choose to be thankful. There is no shortage of reasons to thank God, if only I would stop and notice. One of the most obvious reasons to be thankful is the very people bringing me so much challenge: my kids. The two beautiful children God gave to me. Me. No one else. They are for me to raise; I am their mother. Having them brings a lot of messes (on every level- physical, emotional, spiritual), but life without them is poorer. A friend shared this proverb with me: "Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest." Proverbs 14:4. Without the oxen, the manger will be sparkling clean and there will be less work. But without the oxen there is less fruit, less harvest, less growth. That's less growth for me, because I know God is using this time to refine me and bring me closer to Him. And that's less harvest in the two little people who will go out and contribute to others and bring glory to God.

And, to quote a book I love (and just read again recently), The Life of Pi: "At moments of wonder, it is easy to avoid small thinking, to entertain thoughts that span the universe, that capture both thunder and tinkle, thick and thin, the near and the far." My moment of wonder is that God saved me. So, let me avoid small thinking and entertain thoughts that span God's infinite grace and the smear of poo on the carpet.