I'm Gonna Need More Joy

One of the best traditions I have started in recent years is the Joy Jar.  I read where a family had a memory jar they kept every year. They put in slips of paper about things they did all year and then went through the jar on New Years Eve as a way of remembering all the fun things they did.

I liked this idea but I wanted to change it a bit.  I wanted ours to be a "Joy Jar".  Every night when we sit down for dinner, we say what our high for the day was, as well as one thing we were grateful for.  These things are sometimes big events, but most days, they are just the little unexpected happinesses that make up life. These are the joys I wanted captured in my jar.

We decorated a jar and put a notepad and pen next to it.  Anytime something happens that brings us joy, someone adds a slip to the joy jar. This can be anything from "Daddy making spaghetti tonight" to "Our Disney World vacation was AWESOME!"  Once a slip goes in the jar, there it stays until the first day of the new year, when we eat our Hoppin' John Soup and dump out the Joy Jar.  I can't even tell you how we have the best time walking down memory lane and finding out what we did that brought others joy. Sometimes it's obvious (like a vacation) but most of the time, not so much.  I am always surprised at how much we forget in a year's time.  And I am always surprised by many of the comments in the jar.  It's not, "we went to Water Country yesterday".  It's "When we were at Water Country Mommy held my hand".  The most amazing thing of all is how stinkin' happy we all are after reading through the jar.  We walk away from reading the slips changed people.  A little happier, a little lighter, a little more grateful, a little more loved.

Hoppin John and the Joy Jar dump

After we finish going through our jar, I am kind of bummed that we have to wait a whole year to do it again.  And this year I wondered....how can we do this more often?  I need the happiness that reading these slips brings us more often than once a year.  I mean, what are we saving the joy for anyway?

Then....inspiration struck.  I would make a smaller Joy Jar and keep it on the middle of the kitchen table.  Then, once a week, on family night, we will dump our Joy Jar and read all the slips from the week.  THEN we will put those slips in the bigger jar and save them for our annual New Year's Day read. Now we get guaranteed joy once a week.  It's a great kick off to family night.  And usually, it sparks more slip writing.  Yes, joy begets joy. And I'll be honest, I could of used a little more joy (or cowbell).

One thing I have to caution you on with Joy Jars is not to put them someplace too out of the way.  I have a centerpiece for our kitchen table and was always trying to keep the jar off my table.  But, if you put it on a shelf somewhere, out of sight is out of mind, and you are not thinking of putting things in it, especially if it is not yet a habit.  I made the move to put the smaller one on the center of the table and it is full every week.  It's like you have to think about the joy because it's right there in your face. This is a good thing.  You are focusing on what brings you joy.  What can I put in the jar?  What brought me joy today?

Columba Marmion was an Irish monk who said,

"Joy is the echo of God's life within us."

Are you a joyful person?

Do you want to be?

Change your focus.  Focus on your joy.  We are being bombarded with negativity by the news and social media.  It is so toxic for your soul.  You are going to have to get your joy on. And don't rely on anyone else to do it for you. Because these days, no one will.

Make sure your life is showing God's life within you.  Which should be love and joy.  Be joyful.  If for nothing else, that you have had this gift that we call today.  May it be well with your soul.

Love Y'all~
K