It’s the little things in life sometimes that bring the most joy.
It happens every year and it comes with some excitement.
And the excitement comes in different parts.
Firstly there is the selecting of the new diary online.
The colour, the design. The layout is set and has been a well-loved friend for years.
Once ordered and delivered there is the opening and exploring the free stickers.
Then after a few days – and we are not quite there yet – there is the moment when you first write in it.
It’s like meeting a new friend or someone you are going to work with for the year to come.
It’s freshly reminding yourself of the things already in the current diary – the year to come now has a place and the future is here.
It’s remembering friends and loved-ones as you write in birthdays, as you see the Christmas week and notice when Easter is.
It’s adding in points to be excited about and feeling how close they are or how far they still seem.
I’m not sure you get that with an online diary or a calendar on your phone.
But it’s the little things that sometimes get you excited. A card in the post, a photo you’ve rediscovered, a phone call out of the blue, a chance encounter with someone.
And it is important that we get excited by the little things because they are immense to our wellbeing.
It is vital that we don’t brush these feelings under the carpet and discount them as silly.
In these times of uncertainty, where weeks glide into each other and no-one is sure what next month will be like:
Take time to remember what your little excitements, your tiny joys, your secret smiles.
Can you go through the old photo albums and remember those days.
Have you a new diary you are almost ready to start.
Do you have a friend you can belly laugh with over the phone.
These are the things that remind us of the light and joy in the world.
These are the things that boost our faith in humanity and in the heavenly.
May God give to you and to all those you love His comfort and His peace, His light and His joy in this world and the next.
And May God’s Blessing be with you all. Amen.
I hope you have the opportunity to start your week with a little bit of joy.
This week I may even start writing in my diary!