Double Your Joy

Happy Thanksgiving!

My brother pointed out to me yesterday that we don't really enjoy something unless we're able to pause and express our enjoyment, to ourselves or to someone else. In a very real way, pausing to be thankful enables us to experience fully the joy to be had. 

On the other hand, failing to thank God for all he's created and done starts the downward spiral of a society (Romans 1).

On the first hand, a shared joy is a doubled joy. I heard that my neice, Lydia, opened her birthday presents and carried each one around the room, showing it to each person in turn until they smiled. Telling someone else of a great experience or gift we've been given increases our joy. Lydia squeezed a great deal of joy out of opening those presents!

I'm thankful to Dan for telling me that story, and to God for giving us such a quick and relatively easy way to tap into joy in any circumstance.

I hope you're able to tap into more joy today, whatever your circumstances. I know I'm going to try!