Nudge.

I have always thought the word nudge was funny. Random I know but I'm going somewhere with this.

Since I've been back to Nashville since Christmas I haven't felt too joyful. I am calling them the post holiday blues. I felt like after coming off a great time during the holidays I just came back to ordinary life and didn't have much to look forward to. While I would mention these "blues" and have my "woe is me" conversations with people I always felt something inside me gently tugging the words back that so easily left my lips...you could call it a nudge.

I was sitting at my kitchen table one morning thinking about what I could plan for my next thing to look forward to. With the limited funds I have and limited extended time I wasn't quite sure where to start. And then I felt it again...nudge.

Now...this nudge was getting a little obnoxious. I just wanted to wallow in my "blues" and find something to take my mind off the fact nothing too exciting was happening, but the nudge would not go away. 

I sat there and thought about how I do like my life. I'm blessed with a job I love, people who love me and lift me up, relationships to pour into, a God who doesn't give up on me,  and I continue to learn more about myself each day. And then the nudge became more like a smack in the face.

Why wasn't this enough? Why did I need to look to the next exciting thing? It's like a still small voice whispered across my soul..."this is what's exciting. life. love. work. people. getting to know yourself. laughing. finding the joy in every morning you wake up, every child you have a conversation with, every smile you receive, and even every meeting you have to sit through."

We are called to be people of JOY and to be present in the moment. This doesn't mean I'll be "happy" all the time, but I will have joy. I have a reason to wake up and enjoy each day because it's a gift. God has given us time and we must be good stewards of it. It's not meant to be wished away and dissolved by "the next best thing".

So because of this nudge I have set a goal. I have a calendar that I've committed to writing a Joy from the day on it. I refuse to go through a day without stopping to see where God has worked and I don't want to take for granted any more the time I have.

So as weird as the word nudge may be to me...I am so thankful that God used a nudge to lead to a smack in the face to remind me of this truth and the Joy I cannot forget to have.