My mother loves telling this story about my little sister -and one of the founding members of this Club- Christy Joy. When she was a very young girl, she was sitting on the toilet going potty and kept saying out loud, “I’ve got Joooooy on the inside.”
Of course, my mom thought it was odd that a three-year old would talk about having joy on the inside but she thought she’d inquire anyhow, “So where does your joy come from, Christy?” To that, Christy pointed to her underwear that read “Joy” on the backside that our older sister, Launi, put on her inside out and said, “Launi put my panties on backwards and now I’ve got Jooooy on the inside.”
I love that story because to know Christy Joy is to know her excitement and enthusiasm for life. That’s one of the reasons when she turned 31 earlier this week, I was so excited for her and the life she’s been blessed with thusfar. Two beautiful babies -one boy and one girl- and a husband who is a stud (no really, he’s a cutie).
She loves her family more than anything in the world and does her best to build up her husband and children every chance she gets. She’s her husband’s greatest supporter and fan and that’s exactly the way it should be. This is what marriage should look like. ut Christy had a headstart in life when it comes to marriage. She had mentors.
I’m not too sure how many marriage mentors she’s had but I’d suspect our Mom and I are the two at the top. We’ve always built up marriage. We’ve never said it would always be easy but we assured her from the very beginning it would be worth it. She watches us. She’s always watched us. And her children and our baby sister will be watching her. That is the cycle for building healthy families for multiple generations.
You may come from a broken home or never experienced first-hand positive marriage mentors growing up. You were taught knock down, drag out fights would be normal and have needed to teach yourself to think differently. But think of the blessing you will be to so many others as they watch your marriage, as they look at the patience you have with your husband and children. You will be a mentor without even trying; just by putting your family first.
Kudos to each of you for elevating your family above all other earthly relationships and for teaching the next generation what it means to love without limits and enjoy life to the fullest.
Until Monday…make it a great weekend!
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