CHOOSE JOY
2024 has not been an easy year for me. Among other things I wound up in Northeast Rehab for 10 days after I fell in April. I was doing something stupid, but then isn’t that why most falls happen?
A month later I celebrated my 77th birthday, which also fell on Mother’s Day this year. I had high hopes that it would be the day I could celebrate a return to better health. While that may have been true it was also a day marred by a truly ridiculous argument between two of my children that left me in tears for much of the afternoon.
I could have found myself sinking into a depression. Instead, about 10 days later I woke up truly happy for the first time in months and with the words choose joy my awakening thought. In choosing joy, I was able to reach my goal of going to Denmark in September to visit “My Danes.”
Once home, I was inspired by a beloved cousin and a friend to do something I’ve never done before: volunteer to work on a presidential campaign. My contribution was small, but it filled me with hope and joy. Today, I am still choosing joy.
But mostly I am choosing to remember words Father Ryan said at the very end of his sermon last week, Nov 3rd . It went something like this: “Trust that next Sunday we will be here as a community.”
Not just a congregation, but a community. And that’s a really good reason to choose joy.
Barbara Kautz
Nov 7, 2024