In our rushing, bulls in china shops, we break our own lives.

No one told me that it would all happen at the same hallowed time: Mothering is at once the hardest and the holiest and the happiest.

In a storm of struggles, I have tried to control the elements, clasp the fist tight so as to protect self and happiness. But stress can be an addiction, and worry can be our lunge for control, and we forget the answer to this moment is always yes because of Christ.

Holy joy lies in the habit of murmuring thanks to God for the smallest of graces.

Every moment I live, I live bowed to something. And if I don't see God, I'll bow down before something else.

Expose your life to real need. Visit a developing a country. Take a short term mission trip. Write an inmate, send a letter to a sponsored child, serve in the inner city, at a food bank, with a crisis pregnancy center. Make time for shut-ins, the elderly, the sick, the single-parents, the new believers. Just find one way you can make your awareness of your gift-graced life intersect with a real place of need - and Christ in us will do the rest.

The joy of the Lord is your strength and the person of Christ is your unassailable joy - and the battle for joy is nothing less than fighting the good fight of faith.