J.O.Y.
Have you ever had one of those days where everything looks fine on the outside, but inside you feel like you’re holding it all together by a very thin thread?
- ✅ You checked off your to-do list.
- ✅ Your family is taken care of.
- ✅ You’re showing up with a smile.
And yet… there’s a quiet disconnect. A subtle exhaustion you can’t quite explain. Something that just feels ‘off or empty’. Somewhere along the way, your joy feels like it slipped through the cracks and disappeared.
I recently read a devotional called Jump for Joy, where the author talks about how easily our days can begin to feel like a series of mundane tasks—leaving us overwhelmed, tired, and sometimes blind to the joy that still exists all around us.
That got me thinking… what is joy, really? How do we keep it? And where do we find it? So, I decided to do a bit of research on the subject of JOY and I came across a few simple acronyms:
J – Jesus
O – Others
Y – Yourself
J – Journey
O – Of
Y – You
J – Jump
O – Over
Y – Yesterday
Each one stood out to me in a different way.
The first is a gentle reminder of order – or the order we really should live our lives for (and for those of you who don’t know me well….. I LOVE order) —placing Jesus first, then others, then ourselves. Living with gratitude. Recognizing the blessings around us that we so often overlook.
The second—the Journey of You—is more of a self reflection. A invitation to check in with yourself. Not in a critical or harsh way, but in an honest one. How am I really doing? Am I creating space for peace? Am I noticing the good in those around me? Am I taking a moment to breathe?
And the third—Jump Over Yesterday—might be one we need most. Yesterday is done. The mistakes, the stress, the moments we wish we could redo… they’re behind us. Today is a fresh start. Flip the page and begin new and fresh.
When I thought about each of these, I realized something:
Joy isn’t found in just one of them—it’s found in all of them…. all woven together . It’s not something that just shows up when life is easy. Because if I were to be completely honest… life is rarely easy. Joy is something we need to practice…. DAILY.
It’s choosing to stay grounded in faith—in both the good days and the hard ones.
It’s caring for others, knowing that lifting someone else up often lifts us up too.
It’s giving ourselves grace instead of piling on pressure. (This one is a reminder for myself).
Because joy isn’t about constant happiness. It’s not loud or extreme. It lives in the middle—in the steady grounded moments of everyday life. Even in the hard ones. Even the down ones. Even the sad ones.
It’s about learning to pause, reflect, and breathe. Because in the rushing, the doing, and the constant moving – we often miss it.
Joy has been there all along. Waiting in the quiet.
So today, as you go about your day, try to look for it. Find joy in the small, quaint moments—like seeing a young mom with her crying child and remembering when your own babies were that little… and how you’d give anything to hold them like that again.
Find joy in the stillness of a drive—turn on a podcast, or your favourite 80’s music, and just be for a moment. Don’t be afraid to sing out loud Love Is A Battlefield at the top of your lungs because singing loudly feels so good for the soul. Joy was never meant to whisper.
Find joy in laughter with your family. In a shared joke. In a simple night together. I know for myself, when I am laughing hard with my family, something extraordinary fills my heart. It’s like the old saying states… Laughter is good medicine.
And when you find those moments… hold onto them. Because joy isn’t something we chase. It’s something we choose to see. It’s found in keeping Jesus first, caring for others along the way, giving yourself grace in the journey of yourself… and choosing daily – to jump over yesterday.
