Joyfully Enough

Today I'm thinking about my 2016 one little word:

Paper design by Barbara Leyne

What if every day we remembered to recite this mantra?

What if we felt it, believed it, embraced it?

What if we taught it to our children?

What if they lived it?

Yesterday Joshua spent the day at an All-Region band rehearsal

with a Director named Preston Hazzard from Frisco ISD. I immediately admired how he connected with our teenagers and was moved to tears when he expressed gratitude to them as they were about to take the stage. He has an obviously happy personality, and their time together resulted in a phenomenal performance of five beautiful pieces, most notably a mashup of Beethoven's Ode to Joy and John Adams' A Short Ride In A Fast Machine called 

joyRIDE by Michael Markowski (shared with his permission). 

The cool part for the musicians on stage that day is that this piece was written when the composer was just a senior in high school. It's incredible what kids can accomplish, when inspiration and passion meet dedication, determination and drive.

And here's the connection: Like Mr. Markowski's musical masterpiece, 

life is a joy ride.

It takes us all over the place.

It can be fun and adventuresome.

But it can also be riddled with unsettling obstacles.

Sometimes it's played out in a major key, sometimes in a minor one.

Sometimes it's big, sometimes it's small.

Sometimes it's up, sometimes it's down.

And what an unbelievable difference it makes

when who we are, what we've done, and what we have is

enough.

Sufficient. 

Plenty.

As we exited the concert, we were treated to this 

gorgeously-colorful layered cloud canvas.

And I left there hoping that our children always know that when they give their personal best, 

that it is enough.

Whether they've earned a spot in the All-Region band or not.

Whether they've made all As or not.

Whether their life is on a high note right now or not.

That who they are,

what they have,

what they're doing,

that it's all enough.

And when it doesn't seem like enough to them,

that they know whom they can turn to and trust

to remind them that they are joyfully more than enough.