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Post It Notes

My joy today came in the form of a post it note! I pack lunch for my daughter everyday and I always include a little note. It is usually just a post it note that says “I love you” or “have a great day.” It is such a little thing, but I know it goes a long way. It nourishes my daughter’s soul much more than that P.B. and J. nourishes her body. My joy came today when I opened my lunch bag and there were 2 post it notes. In delightful 8 year old penciled words, one note said “I want you to have a good day” and the other said “you are loved” or “yor are loved” depending on how you read her writing. Of course that matters not. I feel loved today and I have had a good day. And what did I have for lunch today? It is 4 o’clock and I have already forgotten, but my soul is holding to those nourishing words.

Colassions Chick

Our Pastor was preaching on ...well, truth be told, I don’t remember exactly what. But I do remember a verse he read from Colossians 3. It captured my thoughts (it is ok, right? to stop listening to the sermon to dwell on a Bible verse?) The verse begins with ‘clothe yourself’...I love that expression. Clothes are something we put on every day. It is a deliberate act and we do it each day. So here is this verse saying ‘clothe yourself in’ and then it lists a bunch of cool attributes. It does not say be, become or try to become this person, it says clothe yourself. Whew, what a relief. The expectation is not that I will be or live at all times up to the attributes on the list. The expectation is that each and every day, I will choose to put them on. 
    Colossions Chick

  I was so struck by the verse because it list attributes that sum up for me what I want to be as a Mom. How different would my home be if I put on a shirt each morning of tenderhearted mercy, with kindness in its sleeves? If my hair was crowned with humility and my feet were shod in boots of gentleness? And as I stepped into my skirt (you know the pretty green striped one,) it would be covering me in patience? How would that crazy hour of the day when backpacks are being put away, homework needs to be done and someone should cook dinner be like if I took each step in gentleness? If my arms worked only with kindness? If patience was at my core? If there was tenderhearted mercy for my household? And if, above all, my head was crowned in humility, knowing it is an honor to serve my family? I must admit that our home would look rather different. I want to be clothed like that, I want to be that kind of Mom (and yes, I want a pretty green striped skirt as well.) So I wonder when I crawl out of bed an hour or 2 before I really want to tomorrow, if I can remember to “clothe myself with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience?” Colossians 3:12

                                                                  

welcome

This is the Joyful Jewelry Journal (or J3 for short)...call me old fashioned, but I like the word journal. I suppose it would be more relevant if I called it the Blissful Bauble Blog (or B3 for short), but while the alliteration works, it does not capture the same essence. Let's be honest, life is rarely blissful. Sure those 2 or 3 stolen days each year spent basking in the sun on a long sandy beach are blissful. But how often does that happen? (Not enough that is for sure.) Joy on the other hand we can aspire to each and every day. So this blog will be an old fashioned journal in the new fangled blogosphere. It will be about joy and about jewelry, sometimes connected, often not.