What brings you joy?
We all have our days we grumble, but from time to time we are reminded that it is the little things are what bring us the most joy.
My little moments occur often on my walk into work. Not only do I work in my favorite building in town, the gorgeous Art Deco inspired Center Theater building, but my walk in is just a delight. I walk past the butterfly bushes that bloom in the spring and summer attracting yellow butterflies, hot pink camellias that bloom in winter, the lovely topiary designed by Pearl Fryar, and the wonderful sculptures that adorn the sculpture garden between the Hartsville Museum and Center Theater building. One morning we found a Polyphemus moth… another morning, some baby birds with parents nearby coaxing it to safety.
The sky looks somehow bluer when standing on the sidewalk in front of the building, with the white steeple from First Baptist Church gleaming against the Carolina blue sky to my right, and the hustle and bustle of cars going up 5th Street to my left. It’s not quite the center of town, but it’s close enough to see the cross traffic of Carolina Avenue and 5th Street and enough traffic to keep us vital, but not so much that you can’t cross the street safely and enjoy the pleasures of window shopping.
Sometimes I snap a photo of the lush crape myrtles in all their July glory, or the pretty hues of the pansies beneath in December. On sunny days I look up at the sky and catch the last bit of strong morning sun on my face before I head indoors to open my laptop and begin my day.
This morning, I walked out of my van and headed towards my building and my eye caught an iridescent sparkle on the blacktop pavement a few steps ahead. It was a “diamond”, probably fallen from a piece of costume jewelry. It made me smile to think of my Irish Great-Grammy that would have declared it “A Sign”, and the conversation that I’d had the other night from a dear high school classmate that told me that I had better stop postponing happiness and start dating again.
I carried the “diamond” in my palm and put it on my desk and glanced at it a few times throughout my busy day. It was a little sparkle, an amusing surprise, a tiny moment of joy. Finding that little surprise was one of those little things that occur that don’t really mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, but lift your heart just enough to make the serious and important things a bit more bearable. A shiny penny, a colorful bird, or a glimpse of a rainbow- those are the little surprises that sustain us when we need it most.
Happy New Year, friends… may you all find a “pennies from heaven” moment this week to bring you joy.
“Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” ~ Henri Nouwen
