JOY Projects

I remember the first time that heard the acronym for JOY, Jesus,Others,You. I was in grade school and my teacher told us to experience true joy, this should be the order of our priorities.

She was right.

It is not an easy order to keep, sometimes I experience just "OY" - leaving Jesus out..sometimes, I remember Jesus, but skip the "O" and much to often it is just the "Y", no "J" or "Y" to be found.

I have shared this simple acronym with my children and hope that they too remember it just like I have all these years and that they too will strive to experience true joy!



However, just knowing it, remembering it will not help them (or me) achieve it. It is by practicing it.

We have a local Christian radio station called JOY FM. Every month they have a Project JOY - the projects are in one way or another about reaching out to others.

The past several weeks...months..I have been thinking..and thinking

I think that having our own family JOY projects could be a great way to get the ball rolling.

I really wasn't sure where to start, so I began to pray about it.

Then Thursday happened.

My mom had decided to adopt a cat through our local Humane Society. Over the weekend the kids and I went with her to pick one out..

She found one...here is Khulua



The people at the Humane Society named her, I am sure they meant the village in India and not the drink :) Adorable, I know right!

In order for my mom to bring her home, she had to be spayed. However, when the vet went in to spay her, he discovered that she had a stomach disease that was now incurable. The only choice was to euthanize her.

My mom was very sad.

My girls were very, very sad.

My son cried. He cried "I wish God would start the whole world over"

Me too, bud, me too.

They all broke my heart.

We talked about the cat, my daughter reminded him that God has a reason for everything that happens...good or bad.

Now my middle daughter and son want to change the world...

for animals.

It's a start, right?

They want to collect all that they can to give to the Humane Society, we are going through all of our blankets, my stockpile of things looking for things on their (Humane Society) list of items needed, i.e. hand soap, laundry detergent, etc. They have already begun going through my coupons looking for cat/dog coupons so we can buy treats, toys and food.

While I do not think that the "O" in JOY was necessarily referring to animals but I do believe that all of God's creation should be taken care of. I also believe that I can use their zealousness to take care of the "orphaned animals" to bring honor and glory to His name..even it is simply leaving Bible tracts for the volunteers. It is about putting compassion into action.

My kids are sensitive, they are compassionate and they are caring. I want to foster
these characteristics any way that I can, so that one day they can be used by the Lord in active ministry.

I want them to find JOY UNSPEAKABLE!


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