Ryan and I spent most of our Sunday yesterday cleaning and working on the house…putting stuff away, hanging stuff up, organizing the kitchen…everything takes longer than you think…We’ve been out of our apartment officially since September 1st and we’ve done so much to the house since then…but it feels like it’s never going to end!…There’s always another project coming down the line. Welcome to the joys of owning a home I guess? Something that I thought would be the source of so much joy, is actually just the source of a lot of work…dont get me wrong…having a house is exciting and I’m so looking forward to continuing to make it our home…but I’m realizing it’s never going to be a SOURCE of joy.

Let me explain what I’m thinking…Flash forward to five o’clock yesterday and we’re sitting in the evening service at our church…we had decided to opt out of the morning service since I’d gotten home really late from a wedding the night before…We were both stressed about how it seems there are never enough hours in the day to get everything done, and one of the first things our pastor says in his sermon is, “The depth of your joy does not depend on the size of your home”. And that statement hit my heart. I think you can trade out “size of your home” for “how cute and organized your home is”, or “how big your bank account is”, or “getting good grades”, or “getting a good job”, or “knowing what your supposed to do with the rest of your life”, or “having the perfect wedding”…and the meaning is the same…that if your trying to find your joy or peace in things that aren’t certain, then your probably going to be pretty exhausted or disappointed with your life because there’s always going to be someone who has a cuter house, makes more money, or gets better grades. I feel like I can never hear the truth behind this statement enough times, because it’s so easy to forget…comparing your circumstances or what you’ve been given to what someone else has been given just steals your joy.

 For Ryan and I, the only true source of joy that CAN’T be  stolen is the relationship that we have with a God who loves us…I’m not trying to sound super preachy…but really everything else flows from that…and we’re just thankful when were reminded of that truth. SO instead of exhausting ourselves chasing the dream of an organized and pretty house, this week we’re just going to keep things in perspective…we’re slowly going to continue making progress, but we’re also going to make sure that we’re being happy in the moment with what we have and where we are in life, and with what our house looks like today. Wasting time dreaming about future happiness brings much less pure joy than appreciating and giving thanks for the things that make us happy right now.

P.S. The rest of Holly and Morgan’s engagement session will be on the blog tomorrow!!