I just got back from my monthly Supermom gathering.  I am churning with ideas and deep thoughts.  Our conversation & gathering was based around Proverbs 3:3.

Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.

My friend, Jessica, planned a glass etching project for us.  We placed stickers on glass jars.  Then lathered on this paste.  It sat for 30-45 mins.  We rinsed it off and removed the stickers.  We were left with beautiful frosted glass luminaries.  I chose to write Love, Joy and Hope on my jars.  Short, simple and so important.

As I drove home I was thinking about how the glass etching goop worked.  I stuck something to the jars and spread all this caustic paste around it.  It ate away at the glass – leaving it rough and scared.  When I removed the stickers, the glass underneath was smooth and unharmed.

Joy – that word repeated in my head.  What is joy?  How do we find everlasting joy?  What is the difference between joy and happiness?  Here is what I came up with:  Joy outlasts happiness.  Joy means that not matter what is going on around you – no matter how horrible life gets – your heart still beats lightly.  Joy is a deeper sense of stability.  It’s knowing that even when the waves get high, somehow, someway, things will be okay.

What I write on my heart will outlast all of the tidal waves, earthquakes and tornadoes of life.  What lies beneath the stickers will remain untarnished.  The words and morals I etch into my heart will be there at the end.  If I write Joy on my heart – at the end of the day – when the caustic goop has eaten away at all of the other parts of me, when I have nothing left to give, I will still have Joy.  I will still have Love and Hope.

The important part is finding what will make them stick to your heart.  It’s easy to have the best of intentions or even a true desire to have these qualities.  But it will be washed away unless truly impressed on your being.  The book of Deuteronomy tells us how to do this.

6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9

It’s not a one time thing.  Etching and impressing something on our hearts takes repetition and stamina.  It becomes your way of life.  Joy can’t be found in just one part of life – it’s found in all parts.  It’s found in the moments when you wake up, when you clean up toys off the ground, when you burn dinner.  Joy is in bath time and bedtime stories.  Joy is when you lay down at night.  It becomes who you are – it’s forever etched on your heart.

I’m so thankful for my Supermom’s group.  They teach me so much and inspire me in ways I never knew possible.  I praise God for the time I get to spend with them.  I pray that other moms can find the meaningful connections that they need in their lives.

Love, Mel