Seven Colors

My friend Tory at Head in the Clouds gave me an award! Thank you, sweet Tory! This award requires me to share seven things that make me happy.  So here goes:

1.  God's Amazing Grace  I am an unworthy sinner.  This is a fact that I have known growing up in church and have bandied about for years.  But here lately, I have realized how truly unworthy I am of God's love, and I wept.  I wept for the despicable person that I am and for the undeserved blessings that have been bestowed on me throughout my life.  Then, the Holy Spirit hit me.  You can't earn God's grace, none of us are worthy.  And that is what makes it so amazingly wonderful.  God's love is unimaginable, our human brains can't even fathom this type of love.  And in the place of my grief, there was remaining, a great joy, independent of outward circumstances.  God created me, God loves me, and no ebb and flow of life's sorrows can change that. 

2.  My Children Laughing  Let me clarify.  My children laughing WITH each other. Or apart.  Just not AT each other!!  There is nothing better than riding down the road in my car and Caroline decides to actually entertain Cooper and sends waves of giggles flowing from the backseat.  Or when you are outside the playroom and they think no one is watching and they are playing a silly game, resulting in peals of laughter.  When these tiny moments of unadulterated bliss happen, it creeps into my heart and I smile, from the inside out.

3. Riding Around with my Husband  This one is a classic. Without realizing it, when Woody and I get a few hours alone (which is rare)  we love to pile up in the vehicle, stop at the gas station and get two cold cokes (or Diet Dr. Pepper for me) and ride.  To nowhere.  Preferably a small town or a back road where we have never been.  We happen upon landmarks and small forgotten towns left to dry up by the end of  a railroad. We see old graveyards and historical markers.  We admire the change of landscape and marvel over rows of farmland or high peaks that look over bends in the Alabama River.  It's relaxing and makes you realize how much more interesting everyday life is "off the interstate".

4.  The First sip of an ice cold Diet Dr. Pepper  Ok, so I alluded to this one in #3.  This is a small joy, but it makes me extremely happy.  If my day gets too hectic or for a number of reasons, I can pop the top or unscrew the cap on a icy Diet Dr. Pepper and in that fleeting moment, I can sigh the sigh of the blissful.  It's true.  It's something about the sharpness of the initial flavor and the frigid bite of the first swallow, that makes me...calm.  Now this only lasts for a sip, but it is, oh so worth it!

5. Full Moons  Not the dropping the drawers kind, but the actual full moon.  The moon that seems to have punched a hole in the inky black night.  The luminescent orb that turns the earth around you into a silvery glow that makes an ordinary night seem more magical.  It's when the pale light drifts through your windows and you have to stop, look out, and drink it in.  My whole life I have loved the moon.  Dating back to when I slept on the top bunk and my bed was even with a high window.  I would gaze out this window on a full moon whenever it shown down on my upturned face.  It represented hope and a watchful eye, a possibility that God was showing you His power to make the dark less scary for a little girl.  I could sit on my porch at night bathed in moonlight for hours. Everything just seems better.

6.  Late afternoons watching the sun set on the Gulf of Mexico Pick a town, doesn't matter.  It has the same lure, no matter which chamber of commerce brags that theirs is the best. I love to be on the beach all day,skin kissed by the sun and sunscreen.  Small granules of sand stuck to every thing that you own.  Then, to come in, shower it all off, and sit on the balcony overlooking the water.  It is something about that moment.  Hearing the waves crash on the sugar white sand while the sun flirts lazily with the water.  At this point, you are relaxed.  You allow yourself to think of...nothing.  And this is happiness.

7.  Music or The Right Song at the Right Time  I am a music lover.  Unabashedly singing to the top of my lungs in the privacy of my car.  (I didn't say I was good at it, just enthusiastic)  And there is nothing better than the right song at just the right mood.  If you are sad, happy, bored, thoughtful, restless, etc.  the right song blasting from the speakers that really says what your mood is thinking is nothing but joy.  I love all music, and I have eclectic mix of "mood" songs right on my Ipod.  They range from Smokey Robinson's "Tracks of my Tears" (which reminds me of my friend, Meg) to KC and the Sunshine Band's "Give it Up" (which just makes me happy).  Music speaks and stirs one's soul if you will really listen.  When I here Elvis Presley's version of "How Great thou Art", I tear up thinking of my precious Saviour and his mercy and wonder how anyone could truly listen to this song with a dry eye. 

So here it is, a self indulgent post on the things that make me happy.  Maybe they make you happy, too.  Thank you, Tory for giving me this award.  I am happier today for having wrote it.