Things that Fill My Soul with Joy

As mentioned in the previous post, Pon and Zi cartoons fill my soul with joy. This got me thinking of the myriad of other things that fill my soul with joy, so I thought I would share them with you. Cuz we can all afford to be a little more joyful. Especially with this depressing weather. Ok, here goes.



1. Hugs. A good hug really just anchors you, and reminds you that in the end, everything will be all better. Which reminds me, I have a story with this one. Last Saturday I went to a Catholic wedding, and near the end, where everyone's going around saying "Peace be with you", I watched as the bride hugged her dad. Now, the parents are LDS, but the bride went inactive and married a Catholic, hence the Catholic wedding. I just saw the dad's face as he hugged her--he squeezed her tight and in his face you could just see the love, the fear of letting her go, of seeing her grow up. You can tell that he wished she had made better choices, and that she could have a wedding for time and all eternity, but he didn't love her any less for mistakes she may have made. You could just see that he wanted to hold her close, keep her safe and make everything all right again. Watching this made me think of my own dad. I imagined the look that will be on his face when he gives me away. I imagine it'll be pretty much the same, but I hope he gets to hug me outside the temple, and that when he does he knows I got there because of him. Thinking of my dad made me think of my Heavenly Father, and his promise to encircle us in the arms of His love. It's such a comforting thought, that someday I can be in His arms, and then everything really will be all right. Sometimes I worry, I wonder if He'll even want to hug me after all the times I've disappointed Him. But the look on that father's face in that chapel gave me a glimpse of the love of my Heavenly Father. Mistakes His children make don't make Him love them less--if anything he loves them more, and wishes with all His heart that he could just take them in His arms and tell them everything is all right, that they passed the test, that they can live with Him. That's about as comforting as you can get, so yes, hugs fill my soul with joy. Sorry, I didn't mean to make that one so long.



2. Music that makes me dance and sing. There's nothing like a song that just calls to you in a way that your very nerves and skin cells dance. You just have to get up and move with it, even if you look dorky (which you know you do because your roommates just laugh at you, or your siblings make fun of you). I love songs that make me sing along! I just have to sing with them, even if I know I'm ruining the sound of the song by singing along. Sometimes there's nothing more freeing than singing and dancing. I wish I was good at both.



3. This is quite the contrast to the first one, but Jack Handey quotes fill me with joy. I was introduced to them by my cousin Branden, who is currently serving a mission in sunny CA, and they never fail to make me laugh. And usually snort. Which is embarrassing when I read them at work, because people give me weird looks. But here's a few, just to give you a taste of the hilariosity of them:
"When ever I see something screech across the room and latch onto someones neck and that person screams and tries to get it off, I have to laugh, because what IS that thing?!"
"Jeff Carlyle wasn't expecting to find a dead body as he jogged through the park early that morning. And he didn't find one, so that was a relief."
"I think that if you're robbing a bank and your pants fall down, it's okay to laugh, and to let the hostages laugh, too, cause darn it, life is funny."
"If I lived back in the Wild-West days, instead of carrying a six-shooter in my holster, I'd carry a soldering iron. That way, if some smart-aleck cowboy said something like ‘Hey, look. He's carrying a soldering iron!’ and started laughing, and everybody else started laughing, I could just say, "That's right it's a soldering iron; The Soldering Iron of Justice!" Then everybody would get real quiet and ashamed, because they had made fun of the Soldering Iron of Justice, and I could probably hit them up for a free drink."
"If you're in a war, instead of throwing a hand grenade at the enemy, throw one of those small pumpkins. Maybe it'll make everyone think how stupid war is, and while they are thinking, you can throw a real grenade at them."
"To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kind of scary. I've wondered where this started, and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus and a clown killed my dad."

I could go on and on, but I will stop. Anyway, you get the picture. How could your soul NOT be filled with joy after that?