Five Minutes: Joy

Just last month I decided to follow the challenge that Sara set forth each week, following Gypsy Mama's lead by taking one word and writing for five minutes, unedited.  It was a way for me, amidst my busy life and full head of words I want to put on a page, to blog quickly, succinctly and satisfy my creative writing ache.  Today those who follow and love Sara are praying for comfort and peace as she is preparing to go Home to be with Jesus.  Her life motto, her phrase, and a hashtag on Twitter that is trending in her honor is "Choose Joy."  So Gypsy Mama's word today is:  Joy.  Though today my heart is heavy for Sara, I'll choose joy.  Ready, set, write:

When I think of joy, I immediately am reminded of that acronyn - "Jesus, Others, Yourself" - and quickly realize that order is what drives us to experience true joy.  We sing "Joy to the World" at Christmas time...we say we're filled with joy about certain circumstances or experiences, but joy should seep from my pours even when my circumstances and experiences aren't exactly as I'd like or all that I want. 

I've never met Sara, the Choose Joy gal, in person, but reading her blog daily, I feel I've come to know her personally.  Through a very debilitating disease that left her homebound and hardly able to breathe, she would pour out the greatest wisdom and words to convict my heart on a daily basis.  I deal with a chronic illness too, one that affects my immune system, though, unlike Sara, I don't have the multiple complications, allergic reactions and other issues that are causing her body to just shut down.  I've become quite convicted when reading her blog as it points me to Christ and Joy everytime I read it.

Yesterday, after two full days of meetings on integration and process changes due to my company's acquisition, my head was full of information and sorting through all I'd heard.  I checked on Sara's blog for an update and saw where Hospice had been called in and her family was gathered around her as she awaits been escorted Home.  I shed a tear and quickly remembered that what's important is not the temporal, not the day-to-day, but the eternal.  And I am driven to choose joy.