Thursday, December 3, 2009

Walk in Joy

What do I need a blog for? I started to think about it tonight. My friends and family live close enough to keep contact without the internet. Strike one. I don't have a life bursting full of action and stories to tell. Strike two. I'm not that into social networking stuff, anyway. My Facebook activity is limited to scanning the recent news feed, looking at flair, and thinking of clever things to say on my status. Not much need to network going on in my internet life. Strike three, the blog's out. But I kept thinking about it. If I were to create a blog, I thought, it would be a place where my family (just my husband and I, at the moment) can share the happy moments we experience so often in our lives.

"Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy." ~2 Nephi 2:25

This is one of my favorite scriptures from the Book of Mormon. When I remember that this is why I am here on the earth--to give and receive joy--life gets so much better! We're not here primarily to worry about the bills, stress about the government, slave away at our jobs, get angry at the driver in front of us, or do anything that brings negativity into our lives. Knowing this changes my perspective and the choices I make immensely!

Tyler and I are reading a book called Your Money or Your Life for a book discussion with a few friends. The authors, Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez, provide an interesting perspective of money. In a nutshell, they define money as "something we choose to trade our life energy for. Our life energy is our allotment of time here on Earth, the hours of precious life available to us. When we go to our jobs we are trading our life energy for money...Life energy is all we have. It is precious because it is limited and irretrievable and because our choices about how we use it express the meaning and purpose of our time here on Earth." (Chapter 2)

This statement changed more than my view of money. We not only trade our life energy for money--we trade it for tears or laughter; for hatred or love; for selfishness or service; for sorrow or joy. I realized this, and asked where I spend most of my life energy--do I trade it for sorrow, or for joy? Though I lead a very happy life, full of blessings and love from my husband, family, friends, and Heavenly Father, my investment in happiness could go up. So I decided this should be a place to share and celebrate the happiness given to us. Hopefully it will help me--and maybe you--remember to spend our life energy walking in the light of joy.

~Sarah


1 comment:

  1. Although I am unfamiliar with the book you mentioned, I am certain the title comes from a classic Jack Benny radio show. Jack, who is portrayed as a wealthy tight wad, is robbed while walking home late at night. The villain tells Jack, “Hey bud, your money or your life." Jack pauses long enough to irritate the thief who repeats his threat, to which Jack finally blurts out, "I'm thinking it over!"

    ReplyDelete