This week lets look at the gift of Joy. It's different than happy, so I am not asking you to make yourself smile or act more cheerful than you feel :)  Book recommended to aid us in joyful living was "Life Without Lack" by Dallas Willard

Thinking differently about the uncomfortable parts of our stories just might free us up in unexpected ways in our present.  Eternal Hope by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100238 Artist: http://incompetech.com/

A sense of wonder is a great gift to ourselves and the world. How can we cultivate it in our present age?

An overly critical inner monologue can take tons of energy and space from us! Speaking unkindly to ourselves is not how we were meant to live. 

Peace is a worthy pursuit

Revisiting an earlier episode that mostly still holds true for a Covid Christmas! 

Just a quick devotional, a very thankful prayer from people who suffered a lot.  Sometimes it is through our greatest loss we find our most thankful hearts.

Judging others, judging ourselves, it all takes up a lot of energy and a lot of space!! Works referenced:  Soul Keeping by John Ortberg Catherine Marshall on Fasting from Criticalness https://renovare.org/articles/a-fasting-on-criticalness

Life is hard right now, perhaps not fighting that is best.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeWuavHf4oY Will Reagan and United Pursuit  "I'm Not in a Hurry"

Dallas Willard advises us to "ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives." Why is this so important? How can we even do it?  I recommend the book Compassion by Henri Nouwen, Donald McNEill and Douglas Morrison in this episode Also, not featured but a great source for working with how we step out of pressure filled time and enter into something else is "Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren Eternal Hope by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100238 Artist: http://incompetech.com/