Hau'oli

If you give a girl a plane ticket to Hawaii, she'll want to go scuba diving.

If you take her scuba diving, she will fall in love with the island.

If she falls in love with the island, she will want to move there.

If she moves there, she will want her dream job of working in a hut by the ocean and on the boats and in the water.

If she gets her dream job of working in a hut by the ocean and on the boats and in the water, she will also need a place to stay.

If she gets a place to stay, she will want it to be in a place where she can see the ocean and beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

If she gets a place to stay on a beautiful island with ocean and sunrise and sunset views, she will want to explore and meet people and make friends and see everything and do everything.

If she is living on a beautiful island and seeing everything and doing everything and living her dreams, she might be so full of joy she won't be able to contain it and she will feel like she is going to burst into trillions of joy particles that will spread all over the whole world.

And she will be so eternally grateful for that plane ticket to Hawaii.


A few days ago, in Waipio Valley, I felt that level of joy that God promised me. During the darkest times, He told me there is opposition in all things. He told me there would be a time in my life where I would feel a level of joy that would match and even exceed the level of pain I was feeling. I have felt so much joy in my life since then. My children are my everything and bring me joy every moment they exist. My family and friends are such powerful sources of joy for me. Church and service and all of those things bring me joy. 

The kind of joy I felt in that valley that day was a new flavor. I had always imagined that promised joy would come after finding my husband and creating that new eternal bond. When that happens, I know it will bring immeasurable joy and happiness to my life. But I was given a gift in Waipio Valley that had nothing to do with anyone else. I was filled with so much joy with the waves at my feet and the rain coming from the sky. I was overflowing with joy and peace and gratitude and God's love unconnected to anyone else but myself and Him. This joy came not from finding my partner or finding my purpose or finding my place outside of myself.

This joy came from finding me.

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