{"id":283,"date":"2012-06-04T09:55:19","date_gmt":"2012-06-04T16:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/warmanloving.org\/site\/?p=283"},"modified":"2012-06-04T09:50:55","modified_gmt":"2012-06-04T16:50:55","slug":"growing-in-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/warmanloving.org\/site\/growing-in-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"Growing in Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/warmanloving.org\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/20120600-Post.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-284 aligncenter\" title=\"20120600 Post\" src=\"http:\/\/warmanloving.org\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/20120600-Post-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"Growing in Joy\" width=\"478\" height=\"318\" srcset=\"https:\/\/warmanloving.org\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/20120600-Post-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/warmanloving.org\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/20120600-Post-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 478px) 100vw, 478px\" \/><\/a>We are in the last of our series of &#8220;Growing in Character,&#8221; and are closing with the topic of JOY!\u00c2\u00a0 How appropriate it is for us to enter the summer with anticipation of happy memories &#8211; family vacations, lazy afternoons, summer picnics at the beach, roasting marshmallows by a campfire, and just relaxing with loved ones.\u00c2\u00a0 However, sometimes the anticipation turns into piles of wet, sandy towels from the beach, melted string-cheese that was left in the minivan after a day at the park, bickering siblings who have spent a little too much time together, bills from that wonderful family trip, and whines of, &#8220;I&#8217;m bored!&#8221;\u00c2\u00a0 What happened to our fun?\u00c2\u00a0 <em>How did we lose our joy?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>\u00c2\u00a0Joy<\/strong><\/em> is what you choose to find in the midst of your circumstances.\u00c2\u00a0 Happiness is a by-product of our circumstances.\u00c2\u00a0 Even though our present situation may not make us &#8220;happy,&#8221; we can make a commitment to find a glimpse of joy in our life.\u00c2\u00a0 Habakkuk 3:17-18 says it best:<em><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Though the fig tree does not bud<\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0and there are no grapes on the vines,<\/em><br \/>\n<em>though the olive crop fails<\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0and the fields produce no food,<\/em><br \/>\n<em>though there are no sheep in the pen<\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0and no cattle in the stalls,<\/em><br \/>\n<em>yet I will rejoice in the Lord,<\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0I will be joyful in God my Savior.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We choose our joy.\u00c2\u00a0 Bitterness, stress, fear &#8211; these are some of our joy-robbers.\u00c2\u00a0 By holding on to yesterday&#8217;s hurts, we allow bitterness to steal our joy.\u00c2\u00a0 Stress, especially the ones that we don&#8217;t choose (illness, death, job lay-offs, infertility, infidelity), can immobilize us.\u00c2\u00a0 Fear of the future and the burden of the past can make us blind to the present.\u00c2\u00a0 And sometimes, we can just feel too exhausted to find any joy.\u00c2\u00a0 <em>What keeps you from finding joy in your family?\u00c2\u00a0 What can you do to change that?\u00c2\u00a0 <\/em><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">By releasing our joy-robbers, we can focus on making some joy.\u00c2\u00a0 Live in contentment NOW, and embrace the moments (big or small) of each day.\u00c2\u00a0 Forgive the past and move forward with hope.\u00c2\u00a0 Dream for the future and teach your children to dream.\u00c2\u00a0 Make the best of what you have &#8211; you don&#8217;t need big budgets to make memories.\u00c2\u00a0 Say &#8220;yes&#8221; whenever you can (<em>Can I have another cookie?\u00c2\u00a0 Yes &#8211; pick one and put it by your plate to eat after dinner!<\/em>).\u00c2\u00a0 Be flexible and laugh (especially at yourself)!\u00c2\u00a0 Gift your children with an opportunity to find their own joy by giving them some unstructured play time.\u00c2\u00a0 Make time to listen to them with both eyes and both ears so that you will learn how to feed their soul and speak their <a title=\"5 Love Languages\" href=\"http:\/\/www.5lovelanguages.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">love language<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Make your home a place where character qualities resonate between the walls . . . where parents and children are growing in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, and self-control.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We are in the last of our series of &#8220;Growing in Character,&#8221; and are closing with the topic of JOY!\u00c2\u00a0 How appropriate it is for us to enter the summer with anticipation of happy memories &#8211; family vacations, lazy afternoons, summer picnics at the beach, roasting marshmallows by a campfire, and just relaxing with loved ones.\u00c2\u00a0 However, sometimes the anticipation turns into piles of wet, sandy towels from the beach,&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,16,8,6,34,17,10],"tags":[61],"class_list":["post-283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daughters","category-fathers","category-marriage","category-mothers","category-parenting-2","category-relationships","category-sons","tag-joy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Growing in Joy - Warm an&#039; Loving Ministries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Warm an\u2019 Loving is a non-profit counseling and training center dedicated to helping heal individuals, couples, and families through professional counseling and seminars.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/warmanloving.org\/site\/growing-in-joy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Growing in Joy - Warm an&#039; 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