"But with JOY, wend your way"!

This past week we had a front porch 'cookie drop' (my favorite kind) from a dear friend and attached was a refrigerator magnet with the above quote, "But with joy, wend your way"!   We know the song from whence this comes, but like some words that you start to say over and over, the word 'wend' struck me as one not common to our everyday vernacular so I went to look it up (Webster style - not google).  I found the word WEND means to 'proceed onward'!  It reminded me of one of my favorite pioneer songs from Primary called (I think) "Covered Wagons"!  (Sing along)

"Day after day, the wagons are rolling,

Onward and westward to our new home!

Roll along, roll along, covered wagons,

Take us safely to our new home!"

We'd like to think we are 'joyfully' wending these days and truthfully we ARE TRYING!  When asked how we're surviving, I usually give my most honest reply:

"One day we cry, the next we party"!

In Sacrament meeting today, one of my favorite young moms said she might be found guilty of trying to 'squeeze the life out of fun'!  Dear Nicole - you keep on squeezing every drop out of it because hey, we are meant to have JOY (and FUN)!   After all, when the world was created we all shouted for JOY!  It has been second nature to us since the beginning!

Still, yesterday afternoon I broke one of my mothers goblets and went directly to my 'closet' (literally) and cried big tears until my pillow was stained wet!  I have more of the goblets - no big deal!  Goblets are replaceable!  It was just time to cry!  At that moment, I so wanted to feel someones arms around me giving me that encouragement to keep 'wending'!  I prayed for it but couldn't feel it, so I got up and began to 'proceed' on with the day.  

Later on that evening, as our children gathered with us to celebrate our 36th anniversary (pictured above) I began to feel that JOY that we have been so abundantly blessed with all these years.  What a great man I married; my best friend, my true love, my great example!  We have had so many wonderful years, so much JOY, so much to celebrate! And of course, our darling daughter Marianne decorated our bedroom (as she has probably done the past 21 of her 26 years), brought me flowers commissioned by Jim and put stars on our bedroom ceiling so that during the waking hours of the night, we'd have something to look at!

Then came the rest of the gang (minus our two out-of-town-ers) bringing with them their wisdom and wit to cheer and comfort (and their big arms to hug me, as I was so missing Jim's)! There they were - all those arms of comfort!  Prayer answered!

And so, I suppose we all go along 'day after day', hoping our 'covered wagons' won't fail us and that eventually we will reach our new home.  But - we'd better go with 'loins 'girded', with 'JOY wending' and ever grateful for the knowledge that.... "our God will never us forsake"!

HAPPY DAY, ALL IS WELL!