Kicking Doors Down with Joy

I think it is hard to write when most of the world is feeling anxiety after a terrible incident like the one at Sandy Hook.  It is a reminder that pain is a complete epidemic.  Adam Lanza was feeling so much human pain that he had to make other people feel what he felt that day.  He needed to pass the pain on to the 26 other innocent happy people and the hundreds and thousands of people who are affected by this loss.  That's how much pain and suffering he felt.  No light, just pain and darkness.

In last few days, it has been hard for me to generate any sort of creativity in my own head just because of how much anxiety that is being generated in the news and in the conversations of friends and family from this incident. Adam Lanza has let all of us feel what he has felt.  I have been diving into the creative world of my friends to see how their work reminds me that joy lives inside of us-just like hope does. 

I have dug deep into the artistic work of my friends on Etsy and their personal websites. Yesterday, I bought an extra print from Make Way Designs.  BTW, We are going to be doing an after Christmas Art Giveaway of Kelsey's designs on the 26th.  The message and the color was perfect to me for the attitude God wants us to generate in time's when our world is feeling anxiety.

 Feeling joy is humanly possible and a choice--even in the darkest of times. Joy in darkness.  Ironically enough, isn't that one of the reasons Christmas occurs in the middle of winter??  Humans need to feel light and joy in the midst of the darkness of winter.  That is why I bought this piece of art--a quote from Wendell Berry.

I also went back into my ipad to look at some videos of our family.  And found this little nugget of joy in my videos.  I thought I would share it.

I will fist bump any of you in the name Wendell Berry and the Shyla's version of the ABC's.  Those generate feelings of joy to me--even when it is hard to escape the pulse of anxiety in our culture right now.