Back to the Happy

Happy Saturday, Friends! 

As I look back on my last two posts, I realize that it may be time to get back to the knitting!

Wait. What? The post title is "Back to the Happy," Pretty...

Yes, but this IS a knitting blog, and knitting is one of the things that definitely makes me happy! Like when I take photos of pre-felted slippers on the porch, and I can get the daisies in the shot...HAPPY!!!

Other things make me happy, too. A boy and his dog...

VBS Closing picnics, complete with singing...

and water balloons...

Starting a little sweater in colors that remind me of a favorite college team...O-H!..

Happy is a good place to be, and it is a great thing to share. After posting two Saturdays about prison visits, I needed a little more happy this week. VBS week, with its constant reminders that God is Good, was just the ticket. I embraced that as fully as I could, because happy does not typically last.

Happy is something we all wait for, and sometimes get, but it often disappoints...because happiness does not last. Happy depends on things that we cannot depend on...like a winning lottery ticket, a debt repaid, trust unbroken, some good thing that falls into our lap. When something goes awry, happy goes away. Happiness does not bring contentment.

Joy is deeper, and we must actively pursue it. Joy is part of the contentment equation that allows us to survive and to thrive, despite the ugliness we must face in this broken world. Joy is reinforced by a blooming flower, a cool breeze on a hot day, an encouraging word when you need it most. But joy does not depend on these things...joy is always there, especially when you rest on the assurance that you are loved by a God who is Good, all the time, no matter what...and I do!

After my last blog post, a friend commented on Facebook, commiserating with me about my painfully raw emotions of the last few years. She wrote about how hard it is to go through those hard times and still want to look for joy again. She knows this as well as anyone, because we all go through awful things. My response included the following:

"Sometimes  life is hard, but the only way is through with emotions...I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Then again, all my growth comes from the hard stuff. Happy seasons are for resting, and they come back around."

I typed that almost without thinking and hit send, then I re-read my own words. Truth. Did I even know that I knew that before I answered? When did I learn that? I am not sure, but somewhere along the line, I must have figured out that happy is not an end-goal. Happy is nice, it is good, and I wait for happy as much as the next gal...but it is very temporary. Sometimes happy only lasts a few seconds before the next challenge presents itself. It comes back around, but it never really stays long.

Joy, on the other hand, sticks around when I embrace it. So I will. Happy daisies will die. Happy knitting will find knots in the yarn, mistakes in the pattern, and (gasp!)  mistakes in the stitches, too. Happy people are not as common as social media would have you believe. (I am guilty on FB and IG, because none of you really want to see the melancholy Pretty that is my default, and I want to be sure those pictures do not make their way into the photo albums!) But joy is always there, so look for it...and spread some joy where you can, whenever you can. Spreading joy can also make you happy.

So spread joy with kind words, good deeds and loving thoughts. Spread joy by extending grace whenever it is possible. Find your joy, even through tears and anger, and remember that it is there for all the broken people, especially those who are not happy.

Off I go now to happily knit something that will (hopefully) spread some joy. How will you spread joy today so that you can get back to the Happy?

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

A Crushing Weight? Oh, Joy!

Earlier this week, I posted this photo to my Facebook timeline:

When you wake up in the dark with a crushing weight on your chest (or, you know, a 12 pound cat) and you see those plotting eyes, the feeling is a little foreboding. Those eyes seem to say, "Why even get up. This is not going to be a good day for you. You cannot find joy here...just a cat. A cat who could really care less, except...ummm, are you going to feed me today?" Even without the cat, the pressure of life can bring that weighty feeling to my chest if I am not careful. Fortunately, my mornings this week also saw many daffy-dils and even some joyous sunshine! 

Joy is how I am able to go on, even though that weight is planted firmly, claws protruding in a menacing way, as it plots my emotional  demise. Because of joy, I can push off that cat and throw off the darkness so everything can look better. Even on the days it does not, I simply take a lesson from Auntie Mame and look for joy wherever I can...like in a little Christmas!

Yep, I need a little Christmas right this very minute...who doeesn't, really? Also, I have been planning to knit a Nativity for about 10 years, but I never seemed to get around to it. This is the year that I will finally have a little Christmas family for my mantel, no matter what the cat says. Though I do not actually have a mantel...or a fireplace...or an actual plan for displaying Mary, Joseph and Jesus (and their friends), I do have about 7 months to figure something out. This is a good thing, especially since I will need those months to knit some sheep and other accessories. Oh, and a stable. Oh, and a manger. Gosh! I had better get to knitting again!

When I am finished with the toys, there will (of course) be more knitting... On my Christmas list are hats and slippers and sweaters, oh my! I have set specific goals for the 2019 Christmas knitting, so I know that I need at least 1 sweater, three hats and nine pairs of slippers...and again I say, "Oh, my!" It is a very good thing that I have started early, and I already have one hat finished! Yay! Joy! And no pressure when you start Christmas knitting in April!

On the heels of Easter, I have so much joy! Jesus is risen, and because of this I know that my hope is secure. Joy! God sees only the purest form of me, since I have decided to follow Jesus, and I have received the gift of salvation that his blood paid for. Joy! 

I know it sounds trite, but I am truly blessed. God loves me, Jesus has washed away all of my imperfection, and I am surrounded by people to love. As a bonus, many of them love me back well. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow, even if I wake up with a surly cat on my chest in the wee hours. (Having family around to snuggle helps too...)

Now it is time to get on with the rest of this sun-shiny day. Maybe I will plant a flower and admire the artwork of small children today! What are your plans?

Thank you to the Holland family, and all of my
Church family, for loving me well. <3 td="">

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

I Am a Keeper

I am a keeper. I do not mean to say that I am so unique and special that I should be treasured (although I do believe that to be true as well), but rather that I like to keep things. To collect things. To amass collections that make my husband scratch his head in wonder. To  stash sometimes useless-looking items that make my kids sorry they will someday have to clean out my closets...and attic...and basement...and...well, you get the picture.

The upside to being a keeper is that I can usually come up with just the right item to finish a project, whether I am working on artsy-craftsy things, home improvements or special holiday decorations. Duct tape with Dorothy's slippers printed on it? I have that. 6 pair of scissors with different types of scalloped blades for scrapbooking? I have those. Googly eyes to glue on or sew on? I have both, in several sizes. Dowel rods, three kinds of glue, paper grocery bags to cut up for origami trees, polyfill stuffing for toys and pillows? I have all of this and more. This is without even considering the yarn...ohhhhh, the YARN!

Occasionally, I get a bee in my bonnet to clean and/or declutter an area, which actually happened a little earlier this week. I was getting ready to cast on a pair of socks, because I had a dentist appointment. (You all know by now that I cannot sit in a waiting room without knitting!) Well, my favorite sock-knitting bag had become a collection of odds and ends that made finding my yarn in there a little challenging, so I emptied it out next to me on the sofa. Among the dental floss, tiny balls of leftover sock yarn, stitch markers, row counters, chap stick, hand lotion, pens, coffee sleeves, paper clips and toothpaste (I had taken this bag to the dentist on many occasions), I found this:

Yes, it is a foot. This is my preferred method to "measure" people for sock knitting, and although this foot appears to be about my size, I noticed there was writing on it. The writing indicates that Randy wears a 10 1/2 shoe and Dean wears a 12. It also notes color preferences and that Randy would like "fuzzy bunny" slippers. I know that he was likely joking, but you know what I knit, right?

Right! And he would tell me, almost every time he talked to me after Christmas that year, that they were the softest, coziest slippers he had ever had. He even asked for another pair a few years later, because these had worn out from so much use. It was a nice memory, to be sure, but I really don't need to keep this "pattern" or the notes about the sizes of these brothers' feet anymore, so I did something that is starting to become more common for me. I took a picture, so I could share the story without feeling obligated to keep all of the things. 

As I was listening to my daily dose of audio-Bible this morning, I thought again about how this is just what God has done for us. The Bible is the divinely inspired recounting of the memories of what God has done for his people (that would be you and me), from the beginning of time. And no matter what kind of clutter there is in your life, there is something in the book for you. The words that I come back to again and again in my life are these: "I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears." (Ps 34:4) There are many others, but this one usually comes to the front of my brain first, and it comforts me. It is my own personal truth. He has already delivered me from so many fears, and although I know that I will have new fears (daily, sometimes hourly), I completely trust his promise to continue to deliver me. Even though I walk through the shadows of my cluttered life, I will fear no evil, for God is with me! (Ps 23, VERY loose paraphrase)

Mork and Dollface, when I am gone, there should be at least one tiny knitting bag that you will not need to sort through and clean out. I know you are thrilled about that! In the meantime, we can all hope that the next bee in my bonnet leads to the decluttering of a closet...or the attic...or the basement! Now, friends, on to the knitting!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!