Choose Joy

This past year has been a year of healing, a year of growing, a year of finding myself once again.  With many changes in my life, it was hard to find happiness in the things I once found joy in.

An acquaintance from college reminded me of what I was missing.  Sara Frankl, while I didn't know her well, was a person of compassion and love, the most beautiful singer I have ever met, and a true daughter of God.  Her story is here in her blog below:

http://gitzengirl.blogspot.com/

It's a story of true character showing through the very awful circumstance life can throw at a person, and yet she persevered.  I cannot imagine the pain her body put her through, her heartache, and her life here on Earth as the debilitating disease physically destroyed her body.   It literally took everything a person could have.  However, it didn't break her spirit or her will. 

Instead she chose joy. It was remarkable how Sara, despite her physical pain and ailments, was the most positive and optimistic person I have ever known.  Sara passed away this past spring, but her legacy continues on through her family, her friends, and even complete strangers who, like myself, have been moved by her life and her story.  

Sara left with me something I didn't know how to convey and implement into my own, this new thinking, and then I had dinner with my friend, Emily, at our favorite restaurant this past summer.  After the main course, I received a fortune cookie, and when I opened it, this was what I discovered:

"To get the full value of joy, you must have someone to divide it with."

The poster my students see every day when they enter my classroom.

I knew God (and Sara) were speaking to me at that very moment to make a choice.  It is a part of my thinking, my gratitude to God, and even a part of my professional life as you walk into my classroom today.  Choosing joy, while some days are difficult to face with the obstacles and negativity that come my way, has been one of the best decisions I've made, and it will always be a part of who I am, thanks, in part, to Sara for reminding me of what I really need to look for, to choose, to share, and to live joy.