You know that I’ve been struggling a bit. And you prayed for me.
Thank you.
On the day that you prayed for me I had an idea. One of those that rumble down and then up again. It hides and in a thirty-something alzheimer’s moment only to reemerge when I’m washing my hair. The idea was a thought, and then I saw what it would look like.
Then it scared me because I thought I wouldn’t be able to really do it.
But I will. And I want you to do it too.
For this month, because I need to laugh again, I’m going to look for, take note of and intentionally turn the corners of my mouth up in a smile one hundred things that bring joy to me.
100 Joys.
And I want you to participate too.
What I’m going to do: Beginning tomorrow I am going to be photographing and writing about all of these things that are joys to me. Or that will be joys to me. I haven’t written anything out ahead of time. I have no secret book in my purse with 20 “joys” already penned out. I will be doing this as a daily discipline and experiment to see if recognizing the joy in my life that is already is there will, in fact, change me.
What you can do: You can look for JOY too. In your children, your friends, your day, your sorrow. On Monday’s post I’m going to put up a link thing and I’d love for you to link up any posts you’ve written about finding joys. I’m going to hashtag it #100joys on Twitter and be sure to let me know {I will be opening a search for this hashtag} if you are using it too. I will retweet, make shout outs, etc. Every Monday for the month of December I’ll put a link opportunity in the post so that we all can travel around the web together watching how God is bringing joy to the community.
When you link a post, please grab the button below to put in your posts that you link. {Amazing code provided to me by Gitzen Girl. Thanks, Sara! In fact, one of Gitz’s tags is “Choose Joy.” Check her out if you haven’t already.}
I’m going to beat the holiday slump.
Not by shopping. Or baking. And certainly not by hiding my sadness in a corner of my heart and putting on a plastic mask whenever I go to church or talk to the other moms at school.
I’m going to find the One Hundred Joys that God is going to put in my path for the next 31 days.
Will you join me?
Note: if you don’t have a blog or if you do not have a twitter account, please comment on the posts this month about what JOYS you find in your daily life.
***UPDATE! I’m still working on getting the button code correct. For some reason it wiped out all the stuff in my sidebar this morning. As soon as I get it up, I’ll let you know!***
[...] first is Sarah’s One Hundred Joys projet. Will you join us? I’ve made the choice (because Joy is a choice, and one I don’t make [...]
What a great idea! I found it on my friend, Blanca’s website. You have No idea how perfect the timing was. Thank You! Thank you! God works in mysterious and wonderful ways.
What an aweoms idea! I happened to come across your blog through someone I am following who is following you.
I am game to try this challenge. 
I’m totally in!
I’m in! http://annasjoyblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/one-hundred-joys.html
i’m joining!
http://www.journeyofawoman.wordpress.com =)
Thank you so much for posting this! I have so many Joys in my life – and I know it – I just need to stop and recognize and give thanks! So I am thanking God for the Joy and thanking you for the idea to embrace my Joy!
I would love to join this.
[...] Joys! We shared with you the excellent idea Sarah Markley came up with for the month of December. Rather than allow ourselves to get caught up with the [...]
I’m in!!! I need a reason to remember the joy in my life and to make myself document it.
I’m doing this! In my heart, in my journal (paper), on twitter and I’ll be blogging when I can.
Thank you for creating a way for us to remember our joys and to focus on those things this season.
I’m in!
[...] now, another bloggy friend is also counting joys. You can join on twitter with the #100joys hash as well as blogging pictures and words of your [...]
I love this idea! I have been struggling as well and this will help me focus on the joys rather than the things that make me sad.
I would love to participate! I actually started a project similar to this on Dec. 1 on my own blog where I’ve chosen to blog about one thing that brings me joy every day.
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlphabetPhotography
This is one of mine.
[...] i don’t want you guys to be miss the 100 joys series that sarah markley is doing these days. for all the reasons why she’s doing this are all the [...]
[...] Bloggers, Slightly Cosmopolitan, started working on 100 Joys which she found out about from Sarah Markley’s blog. My friend Allison also saw a similar idea and is inviting our small group to participate via [...]
[...] did it on Facebook leading up to Thanksgiving. Then there were GreaThings and now there’s 100 Joys. But Ann’s Multitude Mondays seem to be as encouraging as they have been enduring—and I [...]
Being intentional about finding Joy is really a Joy! I’ve been doing it for years. Believe it or not, it gets easier each time you do it and it becomes second nature. I intentionally choose to look for the good things in life. The alternative is way too depressing. Whenever I catch myself thinking something negative or grumbling about something, I stop dead in my tracks and start praising God. The act of praising the Lord changes my mental track and I find myself starting to hum a hymn or praise song. It may sound hard at first, but I KNOW you can do it! I am proud of you for going for it! Keep up the good work!
[...] couple of weeks ago, I chanced upon the post of Sarah Markley entitled One Hundred Joys. She encourages everyone to find joy in your friends, in your family and everywhere else even in [...]
I just started mine today! =) I hope it’s not yet too late =)
http://journeyofawoman.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/100joy/
[...] ago, I chanced upon the post of Sarah Markley entitled One Hundred Joys. She encourages everyone to find joy in your friends, in your family and everywhere else even in [...]
I love this! I’ve been doing it by writing down my joys in my journal since Dec 1, thank you so much for doing this project!! It really has been so encouraging to realize that I am experiencing Joy much more often than I am aware of, thank you again!
I was turned on to your 100 joys by a friend who follows your blog. She took up your 100 Joy challenge, which then spread to a bunch of friends including me. It was sooo much fun and YES I finished collecting pictures of 100 Joys in December
At a time when we can get so distracted by the commercialism of the season, it was great to be forced to sit back and find the joys in my life. It helped me to refocus and be more thankful. So thank you!
Sarah
[...] when I read others’ journies into “Yes!” Maybe we’re afraid of success? Or we don’t know how to count it all joy? Or it’s Jesus wooing us out of our comfort [...]
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[...]One Hundred Joys | Sarah Markley[...]…