25 things that make me smile

You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Psalm 16:11

Joy. Not only is joy a fruit of the Spirit that should be evident in our lives, the joy of the Lord is our strength. And often, in my own life, I find that one of the more effective tools of the enemy against me has been an attempt to steal my joy.

Several weeks ago, after a few weeks of riding an emotional rollercoaster ride and going up in down in my moods, I finally grasped the concept that sometimes living in the joy of the Lord is a conscious decision. I have to chose to be filled with joy, even on the days when I don't feel like it. Even if it means I wake up and say to myself, "I will have a good day today if it kills me! I will choose to be happy and delight in the Lord."

One great tool for bringing joy into one's day is remembering all of the many great things God has done and is doing for us. "For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord; I sing for joy at the works of your hands." Psalm 92:4

So one days when I wake up feeling unjoyful, I have learned to ask God to fill me with his joy and I try to take a moment to remember some of the many things God has done for me--which brings me to reason for the "25 things that make me smile" title.

The other night I decided to sit down and make a list of things that make me smile/happy and bring joy to my life. And really, I think it's something I should do more often. How can you continue to feel down when you're staring at a long list of things that bring you joy? I started out with the goal of listing 25 things but soon ended up with 50. I thought I would share some of these things with you. Although I made a list of 50+ things, I decided to spare you all the trouble of reading all that and shorten my list to 25 for the blog. So...here are 25 things that make me smile, in no particular order.

• the presence of the Lord


• my family


• my friends (the best ever!)


• my Harvest family


• a beautiful sunset


• mint chocolate


• a clear, sunny 60-70 degree day with just a slight breeze


• coffee


• seeing something I wrote published


• a friend's smile


• the feeling of accomplishment that comes from a productive day


• reading a good book


• finding a really good deal when shopping


• the wonderful aroma that greets you when you walk into a Starbucks


• learning something new and fascinating


• Christmas music


• baking and sharing my baked goods with others :)


• the sound of a loved one's voice


• encouraging words


• seeing the night crew (the people I work with most closely) excel at work


• conversations with God


• the color purple


• talking with friends about what God has been doing in our lives


• seeing redbud trees in full bloom


• fresh-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
Habakkuk 3:17-19