joy beyond measure

I feel like I should record the day to solidify the memories in my mind.  There are sounds and sights and feelings that I want to remember but I've learned that time has a way of dulling the edges, softening the details.

After church Aaron and I found a beam of warm sunshine on the couch.  We soaked up that beam for almost an hour with no where to go, no to-do list to complete, nothing else more important than just being.  Together.  In the sun.

We walked a block from our house to the neighborhood park.  The four of us, just walking down the middle of the road like there were no cars in the world.  There was a football tossed as we walked.  And a frisbee spun through the air, occasionally skidding across the bumpy pavement.  At the park, the sunlight shone down through the trees, creating patches of gold on the grass.  The air was warm, we were together.  And all that mattered in that time was completing the football pass or throwing just the right spin of the frisbee.

Later on, back at home, I introduced the chicks to the world outside of their coop.  One at a time I carried their warm bodies to the garden and let them check it out while the other four cried in jealousy or worry or uncertainty from the confines of the coop.  Each chicken behaved differently but they all shared one commonality; to my dismay, each one loved the taste of my sweet pea leaves.  Normally, the chickens won't be in the garden during the growing season but it was a good place to let them have some freedom with a boundary.

But the memory is in that little feathered life experiencing something new under my watchful eye.  My heart nearly burst with joy as I stood in my garden, my little patch of overturned earth, with pale green baby lettuce, tiny carrot leaves, sturdy sunflower starts, the hint of a zucchini plant, and my little chickens at my feet.  Only a moment.  But the magnitude of joy is beyond measure.

And it's those moments remembered that build a lifetime.  Moments that propel a person forward, through the rainy seasons, through the winters.  Simple moments that protect a quiet heart from a loud world.