Who Holds Your Joy?

Every day, we stumble into joy sapping situations. The situations often pop up unexpected and deplete us. We wake up feeling grateful, happy and at peace with world … and then something happens.

Many mornings, this is my something. Her name is Mary Spoon.

I realize that she looks all sugar-sweet and compliant. Why, she even looks a tad sorrowful and repentant in this picture. But you have no idea. This doe-eyed wonder likes to bark loudly, especially early, early in the morning. She also likes to jump on the back door. And she loves to dig big holes in the backyard. I complain about this dog a lot. Because she gets on my nerves. And under them. And all over them. But this morning, I was thinking about her (because she was barking loudly and jumping on the door) and I realized something … she.is.just.a.dog.

Suddenly I felt very ridiculous. A dog is stealing my joy. A dog that I feed, that I house. A dog that is not going anywhere. And honestly, neither is her strange, sometimes annoying behavior.

I have decided a dog should not have the capacity upset my morning peace, my early joy. And I have realized with all clarity – holding my peace and joy is my job, not hers.