Joyful Noise

Ahhh, Sunday mornings.

There's nothing quite like 15 toddlers pent up in a "cry room" during church service, each wiggling and squirming out of their parents' arms in hopes of finding a playmate.

Today, the boys found success.

Little Jimmy quickly befriended an 11-month old girl and before we knew it, they were embracing and giggling at each other. Jimmy then followed his new friend to a mass of children huddled around Mickey Mouse and Disney princess coloring books. He plopped himself down on the ground, found a spare book, carefully chose just the right crayon color and set to work. I don't think I've ever seen so many parents surrender to their children's request to play during church service as I did today. But the noise from it was so glorious. It was such a joyful noise; a noise of happy, content children getting along and filling that holy place with so much joy. I'm not sure any of the parents could really hear the message today over the noise of the kids laughing and babbling, but it was as if God was speaking to all of us in a much different way.

Jackson watched the kids play from the comfort of my arms but tried desperately to squirm out so he could join the fun. However, he still thinks crayons are brightly colored chew toys, so I didn't want to ruin everyone else's fun by adding slobber and half-bitten crayons to the mix.

It was truly such a joy to watch all these kids, of all different ages and backgrounds, come together in their own little form of worship.

And there's that word popping up that I made a resolution to find more of - joy. Today was a lesson on joy and just how simple it can be.

In what simple things will you find joy today?