Jumping for Joy!

Oh Lord - I come to you in the middle of the day. It has been a great day, but I am already exhausted and it is only 4pm. I guess I was worn out by 6am after having an awesome quiet time! Thank you for meeting me there!! You are always waiting whether I show up or not! Thank you!

My husband and I are actually very different. Everyone thinks he is my brother - but gross!!! We are related only through marriage!! Hee hee! Anyway, he is very calm and very thoughtful and very practical and very not type A at least externally. Internally he is a worry-wart! He does not like crowds, he does not like anyone really loud, and he is very comfortable just being at home and with a quiet, clean house!! He wants to be in the background and never wants attention drawn to himself. Humble would not even begin to describe him! I know about the cruise he won because he gets to take me on it. Otherwise I wouldn't have know possibly - well you know what I mean. He is successful business guy and I never hear about all his awards!!

Kind of funny, because Lord you gave him a loud house, most of the time clean, a crowd of children, and a wife that loves crowds, a wife that is naturally loud, somewhat type A although very laid back, a wife that loves attention and just is naturally drawn to the center of a crowd, did I say loud yet?, a wife that can "sale" nothing but Jesus, and a wife that likes him to know how hard I worked that day. I am very jovial and excited and loud and expressive and did I say loud? I never like to stay home - Let's go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spiritual connection - it is coming! I read this morning in my study that when Christ had commissioned 36 pairs to go out and share the gospel, they came back and joyfully told Jesus about their experiences. That joyful in the Greek translates to just that: rejoicing, gladness, just dog-gone happy! But then a few verses down in Luke 10:21 we see where "Jesus, full of joy" said ... That joy translates to a ecstatic joy, one that is characteristic of jumping, dancing, leaping, skipping, etc. I mean my Jesus was doing a jig or cuttin' a rug as my roots would probably say.

I was just about jumping out of my skin this morning when I read that. Many times I am forced to see Jesus as a boring, calm, never excited, very low key, of course humble, and honestly not the joyous Savior that I know!! My Spirit has never sat well with those perceptions nor with those at church that see Him that way. But here in this scripture I see Him jumping for joy and doing a dance and excited about the advancement of the kingdom. This reminds me of people like Bonita Harrell, my college girls, and all those that feel comfortable enough in my Southern Baptist church to raise their hands and worship Him!! I know I know you are thinking Leigh - just lift your hands and praise Him... Oh I want to and my heart longs to just jump up for him, but I get so inhibited! I don't want Clay to be uncomfortable, I don't want to make my kids think I have lost my mind, and I am just not used to this!! But oh how I dance a jig on the road with Him in the mornings running, in the car singing my heart out, and in the shower when it is the only time it sounds so good. I do praise with jumping joy, but in private. Right or wrong, I am not sure. I am not ashamed, I just don't want to make others uncomfortable. Is that an excuse? I don't know! I think the only thing right about all this is that if I can't jump for joy in private then I have no right to do it in public and be certainly be accused of a show!!

This is how clay and I are so different. I am a jumper and he is a kneeler!! He goes downward to get close and I jump as high as my feet will take me to get close!!!

I love you Lord!