I have a confession (and you probably do too): I far too often miss the simple joy in life.

This morning I woke up with the same heaviness in my spirit that I fell asleep with last night. I laid in bed seeking to name and identify where this heaviness is coming from and to be free from it. It’s Sunday and the worries of Monday are coming quickly. I already know that work is going to be full and challenging. People challenges. Paperwork challenges. Unexpected challenges. This past week with my kids has been good, but perhaps I have taken some moments for granted. We have all been moving in different directions. Have I hugged them enough? Spoken enough words of love and affirmation over them? Did I get too upset when one of them (possibly) broke my laptop? Was I too impatient at times? It’s 5 days until payday and I feel the pressure. There are other potential challenges coming my way that I can’t predict or fully prepare for.

I’m also hopeful and have been contemplating many beautiful avenues of peace and healing.

But it’s all heavy.

I proceeded to pull my heavy spirit out of bed. I had heard my oldest daughter open the front door, certainly to sit on the porch with her coffee and journal. As I opened the door, coffee and a stack of reading materials in hand, to join her, I was bombarded with her joyful spirit.

“I just read John 21:25 and I feel like I got to the end of a book but I don’t know the ending! There’s even more?!?! It says that Jesus did even more things than this and that all the books can’t even contain them? I want to know all things!”

Her eyes were wide with wonder as she talked a mile minute and excitedly sought to place this joyous new discovery into words.

“Welcome to the mystery!” I exclaimed.

That moment provided a great reminder that the heaviness of the reality of the things I must face in life will not magically disappear. However, I know that I am living in a higher reality. This is a reality that is full of mystery and wonder. It is a reality where there is always more to know and there can be peace in the things that I don’t know or understand.

“Many more things could be told about Jesus, the message of his good road, and the people his life touched. This story has been written down in a book, but not everything. For he did so many things, if they were all written down in books, the whole world would not have room for them.” John 21:25

I want to live in the mystery of life and spirituality. I want to live in the reality, that I often cannot see, that there is more and there is goodness. I want more of living in the message of the good road that Jesus provided a vision for. I want to connect my spirit with the spirits of others who have been touched by the mystery. Who wants to join me?

What things in life create a heaviness in your spirit? How do you combat this heaviness when it seeks to overcome you?

How comfortable are you when you think of mystery as part of your spiritual experience?

How has your life been touched by the mystery of God?

Do you long for more? Are you willing to let go of the need to have all the answers in order to discover the more?

More joy.

More peace.

More life.

Let it be so.