joy overflowing

You know that feeling you get when you wake up in the morning, still groggy, and then you suddenly remember that it's a very special day, maybe your birthday?  Or you're plodding along through your day and then you remember some very good news that you had forgotten for a few moments, like a new baby on the way?  Don't you just love that warm, tingly, joyous feeling that floods your soul?

We were traipsing through the mall yesterday, attempting to kill several birds with one stone.  It was too cold for a family bike ride, or anything else outdoors, so we were getting exercise, spending time together and shopping for a teapot.  Malls exhaust me.  We had already made the entire loop once, and visited 4 department stores with no luck finding a teapot.  Then we made a spontaneous decision to buy a treat ... at the OTHER end of the mall.  My feet hurt.  And I was wondering why we didn't buy our treat when we were over on that end the first time.  There is so little about a mall that grabs me.  In point of fact it was our first family trip - ever - to the mall (aside from getting our pictures taken last year).  Just as discouragement was setting in like a thick fog a beacon of hope came piercing through me and lit up my countenance.  At that moment I remembered: I'm in school!  Tomorrow there will be no trip to the mall.  I get to study!

And that, my friends, should confirm what you have suspected for some time now.  I'm NOT normal!  (If any high school friends are reading this they will concur: I haven't changed a bit.)  But I'm doing what I was made to do.  And there is such deep joy in knowing that.