Collecting joy

My husband and I both collect things. I am not for sure but I am pretty convinced that he thinks MY collections are um …junk. lol
I do not know why he thinks this? I collect wonderful things like pretty handkerchiefs (useful when I have to sneeze) hand embroidered vintage dish towels (so I do not make a mess when cooking), bright things from Mexico (because that culture is so happy),

tea sets because I like to share sweet tea with others,

or dolls (because I love to play dolls with kids).

But most of all, I collect babies, and things about babies like children's books, or baby bibs and baby cards or photographs, (to remind me about how wonderful my own five babies were and still are). Who could possibly think this is junk? lol

My husband collects minerals, and they glitter in the sun. I like the minerals too. He collects tropical fish and I like them as well. He loves corvettes and the astros and both are very cool.

But I think that my collections, especially the babies, are cuter.
Babies remind me that in order to be happy, we are supposed to be like little children. Whenever I am mad at some adult, I just picture them as a little child and I feel more kindly towards them.

Not only that, but all the things that seem to make people “old” and unhappy, are gross things like diseases, unfriendliness, inflexibility and stinginess.

Babies have none of this and are free from fear of disease, and are very friendly and happy.

Baptism is one way to renew, and remind us of our innocent selves. When we are newborn, there is nothing bad to worry about and when we are baptized, it is a way for us to shed all the bad things that are in the past and only pay attention to good. I loved watching people get baptized in the movie “the Jesus Revolution”.

It is pretty much impossible to be happy and sad at the same time just like it is impossible to be good and evil simultaneously.

Isn’t there a bible verse about how we won’t know when he(God) will appear but when he does, we shall see him as he is, and we shall be like him. If God is good, is it possible that when we are only aware of good, we will see God, because we will be like him?

If that is true, then why aren’t all people running to do good and to see good, because then we could all draw us closer to God. That is what I want to do for sure!!

Baptism, or this renewal of our spiritual being, includes water. I know when I take a bath, my skin looks so rosy, glowing and fresh. I feel renewed, like a baby.

I know when I drink milk, (I prefer whole cows milk) I feel satisfied and not nauseous like I do when I drink alcohol or soda. One time I poured soda on battery cables that were stuck and that drink just dissolved the battery acid. LOL YIKES.

So today, I could have watched the rest of the show my husband and I are watching together but it has a lot of violence. I will watch it with him when he gets home. But right now, I want to surround my eyes, ears and thinking with that which is good.

So, I am sitting at the kitchen table, looking out the glass door at the pretty green grass, writing about babies, and smelling this amazing botanical soap that I just bought. (and smelling the red pepper soup that I am cooking in the crock pot).

Like John Denver sings, “you fill up my senses”, I am letting evidence of good surround me and fill up my senses. I want to be aware of it, embrace it, and express it. If we collect joyful uplifting songs with our ears with what we choose to listen to, we can also collect joyful pure and uplifting thoughts with what we are looking at and what we are thinking of, as well.

Last but not least, one of my collections is a bowl full of hearts. My husband actually loves finding these for me. But some people, when they look at this collection, only see a bowl of stones. Indeed, they are hearts made out of stone, but when I see them, I just see hearts. Interesting huh how what is in our thinking influences what we see?

When someone is having a hard time, I have enjoyed sharing my “heart” in many different ways, as well as offering to let them take one out of the bowl, to keep, so that they can be reminded that hearts made out of stone, are not a part of who they are.

Recognizing the power of love helps us to carry with us, those hearts of stone who seem to not be able to carry themselves, and soften these hearts with appreciation and gratitude, for the good that they are capable of.

I love the hearts, but I am convinced that babies are the fastest way to appreciate and embrace good. “Be fruitful and multiply” is not really about babies, it is about us…expressing and enjoying and surrounding ourselves with good. We are not saving the babies, we are saving ourselves when we remember this.

Babies are a constant reminder of our innocence, our purity and our joy, and we can be “born again” each time we recognize and demonstrate our own innocence, purity and connection to all that is good. Nothing else will do.