Some time ago
     when I was a boy.
The simplest things
     would bring me great joy.
It didn’t take much
     to fill up my time.
I’d work on the farm
     or play in the slime.
It didn’t matter
     if work or if play.
Being a family
     had value each day.

We did not have much
     but we had each other.
My brothers and sister,
     my dad and my mother.
We worked really hard,
     we played just the same.
We even decided
     chores could be a game.
The things that we lacked,
     I could not even tell.
We had what we needed,
     we really lived well.

The things that we had
     that many did lack.
Was a house full of love
     and even some slack.
I always had value,
     even when I did wrong.
In my own family
     I would always belong.
I cannot imagine
     how different I’d feel.
If my growing up
     was anything but real.

Now I fast-forward
     through quite a few years.
Years full of blessing
     and even some tears.
And while I am wiser
     or older, at least.
Sometimes the joy’s gone,
     eaten up by the beast.
You may never see it
     but the beast is out there.
Stealing contentment,
     thinking no one will care.

I’m not all that different
     from days long ago.
Joy fills my life
     through the people I know.
The value they give me
     by what they do say.
Is the mark of a good friend,
     in work and in play.
I pray that these lessons,
     I learned as a boy.
Would lead to contentment
     and fill you with joy.
©

As I was spending time with God, reflecting on joy and contentment, He reminded me that I often look for both of those in all the wrong places. We are often taught in so many ways that the stuff we accumulate should bring us great joy. When joy doesn’t come we may decide we simply need more stuff. God took me back to my childhood that was filled with great joy even though we didn’t have a lot of possessions. It is a lesson I need to be reminded of often and I pray that it is a reminder that is helpful to you.

In prayer,
Tom