Pure Joy

How often do we, as adults, soak in life with the same pure joy as our children do? I know I don't nearly often enough, if ever!

The other day, someone complimented one of my children. "He is the happiest 5-year-old I have ever seen! Always smiling, always eager, always excited!" I'm guessing, though, that most kids are that way, at least mine are. They wake up every single morning at the crack of dawn just so excited to start the day. I wake up every morning wondering where the night has gone and wishing that I could sleep longer. I don't remember the last time I had that type of excitement for every day life.

I think I need to work on finding joy. My children do it naturally--they see and feel joy in everything around them. But I have to work for it. Sad, isn't it? That life can sometimes take that out of you when you probably felt it more easily as a child? For me, it's the stress and responsibility that comes with adulthood, and particularly, parenthood. I just need to take a step back and try and see the world through their eyes. Whenever I do that, even briefly, I can understand how they feel that joy.