I've got the joy, joy, joy.....

It's amazing how doing something you think is hard or difficult will bring so much joy!

Today I took the girls outside to plant some things and work in the yard. I wanted to teach them about planting seeds and the rewards of that - the "fruits" of their labor. When I was growing up we always had a garden. My mother canned every year, not only for our family but to give to others as well. I look back and remember thinking it was just too much work. We had an entire acre set aside for growing foods to sell at Farmer's Market. She would get me up at 4 in the morning to go and weed, etc before it got too hot. Saturday it was a little earlier because we had to bushel everything up and take it to the next town over to sell by 6 am. as much as I loved the fresh fruits and veggies, I never really enjoyed doing this. I even got a small 4 x 6 rectangle of land for my OWN garden - (which of course I only grew things I liked eating in it) but it was still too much work for my liking.!

This morning as the girls were "helping" me, I wanted so badly for them to be so excited about this process. After all, they were the ones who made sure first thing when they got up that we were going to do this. After about 15 minutes outside, they had to go in because it was just "so" hot. When they came back out they did help by clearing all of the dead leaves behind the planters and around the plants.  I then went around the side of the house to plant lilac bushes (I was blessed with starters last year and this is in remembrance of my mother - I always did love to bring them to her in the Spring). You gotta love the Ozarks rocky soil - I dug more rocks than dirt! The girls got a big kick out of finding all the cool rocks I was digging up.  They were more excited about that than anything!  I realized in that moment how good that hard work felt. The girls may not want to jump right in and do a bunch of planting, and at this point, to them it's just a lot of hard work. Yet, it brought so much joy to me and made me grateful my mom and dad MADE me do it as a child!

If you are facing something that just seems too difficult or too much work - go for it! You will reap joy and satisfaction from the fruits of your labor!!