But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart is joyful because of your saving help. I will sing to the Lord who has dealt with me richly. (Psalm 13:5-6)

For some time in recent months I have been chatting about trying to rid my home of "stuff." One of my daughters, more likely than not tired of hearing my banter but seeing little in the way of result, gave me a little book for Christmas stating that I should read in its entirety before beginning any work.

Marie Kondo's , "The Life- Changing Magic Of Tidying Up, the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing" is a small book. I decided to read some of it in bed on Christmas night and completed the read in less than two hours. It motivated me. Decision made. Begin tomorrow!

Marie stated in her book, "We should be choosing what we want to keep, not what we want to get rid of. Does it spark joy? If it does, keep it. If not, discard. When we really delve into the reasons we can't let something go, there are only two: an attachment to the past or a fear of the future."

Webster’s defines Joy as: 1. the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by some good or satisfying; keen pleasure 2. A cause of keen pleasure or delight 3. The express or display of glad feeling, festive gaiety. 4. State of happiness or felicity 5. Glad to feel joy; be glad; rejoice

In my decluttering I have felt "delight and happiness," in my discarding, especially when giving to HomeFront or to the Salvation Army, I have felt "keen pleasure" in seeing all of the square feet of my bedroom carpet, even in the closet. Today I will be dropping off several boxes of items from my garage for the Salvation Army Store. Upon my return, I will drive my vehicle into its home parking space feeling "festive gaiety." My car will grin from headlight to headlight and I will smile from ear to ear. Two tasks completed. More to come.

As I move on to more tasks disposing of clutter, there will be more joyful moments knowing "less is best." In reading over and over the word "joy," my mind kept being drawn to the joy I experience in and through Jesus Christ. This is real, perfect joy.

I have had multitudes of wonderful joy in my lifetime. Those joys were and continue to be gifts and blessings. I have had a joyfully abundant life provided through the providence and generosity of the love of Jesus. He has led me to a joyful relationship with Him and His Father. He has given me the joy of His abiding love, the joy of His Incarnation, the joy of being a child of God, through my Baptism. He renews my soul always but most especially those three special days of the church year: Maundy Thursday when he instituted the Last Supper and Eucharist "do this in remembrance of Me," Good Friday when He took on my sins and the sins of the world, and the Resurrection Vigil when he trampled down death by death and was raised from the depths of the earth to the heights of heaven where I hope to be refreshed in the Joy of His Perfect Love And Salvation.

Lord and Master of my life, thank you for the joys of your creation, for the joys of family, friends, and the community of APLC. Thank you for showing me opportunities to serve you in small and meaningful ways. Thank you for your perfect love in the name of Christ. Amen.

Contributed by Joyce
Monday January 18, 2016
Liturgical Year: C Week 8
Liturgical Color: Green
Sunday Gospel reading: cEpiphany2
Second Sunday after the Epiphany