Finding Joy in Every Season: How to Bring Playfulness Back Into Your Faith and Life

Hey, and welcome back to the show.

Today I have a great guest interview for you.

We're going to talk about how do we find joy in our everyday lives, and how do we find it even when we're walking through hard moments?

We're also going to talk about how do we keep a playful spirit about us no matter what.

Welcome to Faith Fueled Living, the podcast that equips you to live well spiritually, emotionally, physically, and purposefully.

Each week, we'll dive into conversations and biblical truths to help you strengthen your faith, pursue meaningful work, care for your whole self, and live in line with what matters most.

Hi.

Today on the podcast, I would like to welcome our guest, Jill Bond.

She is an author, speaker, and podcaster.

She's also the curator of Joy Shots, and she helps people find joy no matter what else is happening in their life.

Her podcast is called Finding Joy no Matter what.

And her newest book is called no matter what 90 devotions for experiencing Unexpected Joy in Tough Times.

And I'm excited to have this conversation with her today because if you've listened to the show for a while, you know that joy is definitely something I talk about, and I'm passionate, passionate about helping people find along with passion and purpose and stepping into a deeper faith.

And so I'm excited because we're going to talk about how do we find joy in the everyday?

How do we find joy when we walk through those tough seasons?

And how do we just navigate life with a playfulness and a openness that allows us to experience everything God has for us and that he has for us to experience experience together?

So I want to welcome Jill to the show.

Jill, welcome.

And I'm so glad you're joining us today.

Thank you.

And I am so glad to be here.

Awesome.

Okay, so can you tell us a little bit more about life and just why do you talk about joy and what life looks like for you today?

Well, I. I started this journey a long time ago.

I. I tell a lot of people when I was a child, and.

And I first learned it a lesson on the tilt a whirl.

And any.

Most people, I think, know what that is.

It's a.

It's a ride that goes around and around on a platform that goes around and around.

It was at the street fair in my hometown of Bluffton, Indiana, and I learned a very important lesson on that tilt a whirl.

And that was it is entirely possible for a human being to laugh and throw up at the same time.

Yeah, Joy and dove times right there, all in the same place.

And it came back to me many years later.

And this was a while ago when this happened, but I was at a basketball banquet at my church and the Chick fil a cow came bopping in as the mascot.

It looked like so much fun.

And the cow was high fiving all the kids.

And I turned to my husband and I said, that looks like fun.

I could do that.

And he said, well, why don't you?

And I said, yeah, maybe I will someday.

So I forgot about it, really.

Three months later we were at a Chick fil a and my daughter, who also heard me say that, said, why don't you go up there and ask the manager about putting on that cow suit?

I thought, busted.

So I had to go through with it.

So I went up to the counter, asked for the manager and asked him, what, what does it take to put on that cow suit and do a few gigs?

And he looked at me and said, what does it take?

A pulse.

That's what it takes.

That's it.

No brains, no talent, nothing.

So I said, I would like to apply for that job.

So he gave me an application that was clearly intended for an adolescent looking for a part time job.

And I thought, ah, I will have some fun with this.

So I went home, got copies of my college transcripts, refreshed my resume.

I made a portfolio to die for, made an appointment with the HR lady in the mall, and I met, and I dressed to the nines, by the way, for this interview.

So I went, I met her, she interviewed me.

And at the end of the interview she stood up and stuck out her hand and said, I am pleased to offer you the, the position of area market cow for Chick fil a.

So it was one of the happiest days of my life.

So I did a few, a few gigs, you know, some parties and, you know, tramping around malls and all.

But one year later, I was the cow at the same banquet that I had been to a year before.

And I was standing by a window waiting for my turn to go in.

And all of a sudden, you may know and your listeners may know, ladies of a certain age experience an internal furnace periodically that starts way down deep and just radiates out.

It can be very miserable.

And all of a sudden I was feeling that furnace.

And.

Have you ever been in a cow suit before, Kristen?

Not a cow suit, no.

Maybe other kinds of suits, but these are, they're so, so, so hot.

Yeah.

So anyway, I thought, oh, oh, please, no, no, not in this get up, not now, please, please, no.

But in that moment, it reminded me of some sorrow that I had been experiencing and that that was this.

That my husband and I had dealt with infertility all our married life, and we did.

We were able to have one.

One child, our daughter.

And we always wanted more, never felt led to adopt.

I don't know why.

We were not good candidates for other forms of conception.

And so I knew that with every.

Every furnace episode, I was one step closer to the end of my reproductive years.

And apparently the answer from God was no.

And everybody listening, I'm sure, knows what it's like to want something you don't have or to ask God for something perfectly reasonable and you get a no.

And it doesn't make sense.

And it seems like it's not fair.

Well, for about two years before that, I had started.

I had always been a deeply joyful person.

Person.

And I started getting sad.

And I couldn't figure out if I was still a joyful person going through a season of sadness or if I was turning into a sad person.

And it just broke my own heart.

But it was in that moment that that lesson I learned so long ago came back to me.

And all of a sudden, I know this thought was from God.

I thought to myself, isn't this the perfect picture of joy and sorrow in the same place?

Me having a hot flash in a cow suit?

And I had to laugh because it was so ridiculous, but it was exactly what I needed.

And it changed the way I looked at tough times from then on.

That, oh, it's not just.

Just sad.

It's joy over here waiting for you to be intentional enough to draw from the joy that's walking alongside that sadness.

Some lesson.

Yeah, absolutely.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah.

That's amazing.

That in that moment, having a hot flash, that.

That, like you said, that that still came to you, right?

You had a.

That appreciation that, you know, there is good and evil, there's dark and light.

There's joy even in the hard things.

And, you know, that's a perspective that I think we can all try to remember more because we're all going to have seasons.

We're all going to have things that are hard.

We're going to have loss and grief.

You know, this year, I've walked through several losses.

My dad passed earlier this year after battling Parkinson's, you know, and it had gotten.

It continued to get, you know, go downhill and get.

Just get really bad.

And then we had a neighborhood friend unexpectedly pass.

And then I had a girlfriend in July pass, actually just had her celebration and Service on Friday.

And you know, but in all those things, and I know a lot of other people walk through a lot of loss, you know, recently and you don't know how it'll hit you.

But in every one of those times I found so much joy and love and other things.

Even while you felt this deep loss in this grief.

And you know, one, maybe it's because I'd had a lot of perspective on that before from talking to other people, right.

That have walked through a lot of grief, unexpected grief.

But two, I think it's because of my perspective.

Right.

And that I knew that even when my dad was struggling before he passed like the times that we would just be over there, which was regularly there was even so much.

He was just so happy to have us and that we were there and that, you know, because he knew families that their kids weren't present or that weren't there, that weren't helpful.

But, you know, so it's like I was always just have this appreciation in this, like knowing that there's joy in the moments.

Even when it was horrible for him.

Right.

He couldn't do much of anything for himself, but it was, he still had such joy.

He was still so proud.

Right.

Of his children.

He had so much love and so much faith.

And I think watching people like that too sometimes reminds us that there's joy to be had.

There's other people, a lot of times us who brings the joy into our lives, but it's also being light hearted.

And you brought something else up earlier, which is we need to not take ourselves in life so seriously, you know?

You know, while that might not be exactly what you say all the time, it was clear that the plaque that you went to apply for a chick fil a cow job and that you put together this amazing, like probably the most professional level application they've gotten.

Right.

For the cow.

To me, it's just amazing and it just shows this light heartedness that you put into.

Right.

You were already doing things and whatnot.

And you said, I'm going to go be the chick fil a cow.

Because that seems kind of fun.

Right?

Right.

And I love that.

Highly underrated.

Sometimes, you know, we feel like we don't have enough time or the wherewithal.

But really you.

You don't have time not to have fun because it's, it's, it's so true.

So I was at a women's leadership event two weeks ago.

I was on a panel there.

And the woman that runs or hosts this, this group, she.

I GUESS she's about 75 and at the beginning of the event, but.

Well, I'm sorry, before the event started, so only a couple of us were there.

It was at a local business that has a huge second floor, you know, event area and they have a two story slide besides their steps coming up or down.

And she had said something about the slide and kind of said what we're talking about, which is, oh, we should all just like, you know, enjoy life more and do things right.

The whole, you know, I talk about a lot like, follow your passions and go and enjoy life.

Don't say no to life.

And so when I was leaving, there was a woman sitting at the top of the slide.

And I said, okay, I'm gonna do it.

Like, I didn't even know any of these women because it was a new group that I haven't been a part of before.

But she was actually just taking a picture.

So I say, okay, I'll do it.

So.

So some of the women are up there and so she's like, oh, I'll take your picture and video.

I said, okay, great.

So I start to go and the women down below are yelling to me, put your legs on this outer slide.

So I. I'm like, why?

So I start doing it.

As I get to the bottom, I think I better put my legs together right to stop myself.

They were saying that because you needed to slow down.

So I flew off of it running and fly to a superman position onto the ground.

And it kind of hit my arms.

And I was okay, of course, besides my pride.

But the point about that was, is one, you.

Yes.

I didn't know that I was going to fall because I didn't know how fast it was.

But it was uncomfortable for me to do that because I didn't know anyone else.

I've never done this slide.

But I ignored the fear.

I ignored the like, oh, let's just go down the stairs normal.

And said, no, I want to spice things up.

Even in that little moment, let's do the slide.

Because we can all be like, we're 10 years old again or 5 years old.

And so I only share that to say, go take the slide.

Go apply for the Chick Fil.

A, you know, thing.

Or, you know, my mom, she's always.

Whenever we go to a trade show or event, she wouldn't go be in the costume.

But anytime there was a character like that, she would run up and say, I want to take a picture with them.

And so for her that was, you know, a fun thing.

And so that's the point is just get out of your comfort zone.

Right.

Because that's often where you find the joy and you find the little nuggets that get you excited.

Right.

I always tell people that there are a couple kinds of fear in my mind anyway.

One is fear of, like, jumping out of an airplane.

Fear that I'm afraid of this and I don't want to do it.

That would be me, do not want to do it.

But there's the other kind that I think that's worth paying attention to, and that's I'm kind of scared of this, but I really want to do it, and I say pay attention to that.

Absolutely sly.

Yeah.

I so agree with you on that.

And yes, I'm with you.

I used to think when I was very young, oh, I'm going to jump out of an airplane.

But I bungee jumped one time, and I was so petrified to jump.

And yes, it was fun after the fact, but I was like, that is not for me.

Apparently.

It makes me feel like I shouldn't be doing that.

Every bell and whistle went off in my body.

I said, apparently, I'm not meant to skydive.

So since then, I said, it's not for me.

So I'm with you on that.

That is a different type of fear.

And that's okay, right?

Because sometimes you do want that little voice to tell you, like, this dark alley at night seems dangerous.

Right?

Versus.

Yeah, versus, like, oh, you know what, what really is going to happen if you decide to go in the ocean swimming, but you haven't been in it for 10 years, you know, it's going to be joyful.

So I love that.

Okay, so let's get into.

Tell me a little bit about some of the things that you share about finding joy in our everyday lives.

Oh, I, you know, I. I have collected.

And that's why I call myself a curator of joy shots.

Because I've collected so many things.

I could.

I could make your podcast very, very long.

I'll tell you just a couple, though, of my favorites.

And one of them, I call it to Seize and Celebrate Moments.

Because we all have moments.

And what I mean by seize a moment is to just pay attention to it.

And one way my husband and I have decided to do this is to take a one line a day journal.

I don't know if you've ever heard of those or not.

They're, I don't know, like, four by six.

They're not very big, but they're thick.

And you can write there's just a little tiny space in every day.

You can write one word, one line, anything.

And it goes on, though, for five years.

You go through the book and then you come back and put the next year.

And so five years, we decided that we would like to go to bed and let our heads hit the pillow with something joyful on our minds.

So we decided at the end of every day to write one good thing that happened that day, no matter how bad the day had been.

But, you know, of course we didn't.

And it turned out to be the best thing.

But.

But I will say that now we're on our sixth year, we had to start a new journal.

Now we have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of tiny moments from every day.

And that's not to negate the bad things that might have happened along the way.

It's not a band aid on a gaping wound, but it's just a way to change the channel in your mind and use that book to do that.

And we have found that just what a delight.

So that's just one way to pay attention then.

Celebrating moments.

Season Celebrate.

Celebrating moments.

My favorite ways to make a moment concrete.

So the journal makes it concrete.

Everybody's brought a souvenir home from the beach, a shell or, you know, bought some souvenirs, brought them home.

But I encourage people to collect everyday souvenirs.

So if you have coffee with a friend and you had an especially good time, I might take the cup and put it in the windowsill afterwards and just let it sit there so that every time you see it.

This is a paper cup.

Do not steal a ceramic cup from a coffee.

But you just get a little.

A little joy shot.

And it reminds you of that wonderful time.

One time we went on a raft trip and had a great time.

Our shoes were obnoxious and awful and gross at the end of the trip.

So I put them on the front porch.

Muddy, nasty.

And every time I noticed that, waiting for them to dry, every time I noticed that, I would open the front door and I'd look to the left and I'd see those shoes and.

And it would make me smile.

I left them there for two weeks.

They were ugly, but they reminded me of some joy.

But my favorite way of making things concrete is to actually print out a photo.

There are lots of things you can do with photos.

But my favorite, if I can tell you this story of all time, One year at the my mom and I were at the Virginia State Fair and we passed by a booth where you could get your picture taken with a chimpanzee for a mere $5.

And I said, mom, mom, let's get our picture taken.

Let's get our picture taken.

And she just kept refusing.

And keep in mind, I was a grown woman at this time.

I was not a child begging my mom for this.

But she just kept saying no.

And I said, why?

And she said, well, so somebody might look at it 50 years from now and think it's a three generation photo.

And I said, really?

And that was it.

That was the end of it.

We missed the opportunity.

However, 20 years later, my family was coming to Virginia from Indiana.

I knew this would probably be the last time all those people were here.

I was lying in bed one night, they would be here for several days thinking, what can I do to entertain these people?

And all of a sudden my mind went back that 20 years to that missed opportunity.

And I thought, I wonder if I can find a photographable chimpanzee anywhere and surprise my mom or get revenge.

You can look at it one of two ways.

Sure enough, I networked around.

I found a guy with a farm in my county.

I called him up, I said, here's what I'm doing.

He said, oh, yeah, why don't.

He said, it's cold.

It was December.

He said, it's cold.

We don't want your mom out in the cold.

Why don't I bring the chimp to your house?

And I wanted to die from happiness at that thought.

So on the appointed day, we had a backdrop in our living room because my mom thought we were just going to take family photos.

And the handler was coming up the walk with the chimp.

And I told my mom, I said, mom, put some lipstick on.

I got a surprise for you.

And when he walked through the door with that chimpanzee, I said, do you remember 20 years ago?

Yes, yes, yes, she remember.

But she was all about it this time.

So for 90, I am so telling you the truth.

90 of the most joyful moments of our lives.

We played with that chimp.

She.

We would lie down on the floor and she would roll over us.

She would take grapes from our mouths.

She would jump all over.

It was so fun.

And we got about 300 pictures of all that.

But the greatest moment of the day was at the end, about the time she had to leave.

And we sat down and my mom and I had a picture taken with the chimpanzee.

I have that picture on my dresser now.

And it reminds me not just of that moment, but every day, every single day that I'm home, I look at it.

It reminds me of moments that the coming day might hold that I don't want to miss.

And a little P.S.

to the story.

My mom lived to be 99 years old.

And when she died, my brother and I were meeting with the funeral director.

And he said, you know, we have a little.

Usually put a little pamphlet about the person and some information just for people to take home.

He said, but we need a photo.

And my brother looked at me and he said, I have an idea, but it might be inappropriate.

And I said, inappropriate is our middle name.

So we put a picture of my mom and a chimpanzee on front.

On the front of that bulletin and we told the story at her service.

And everybody knows at a funeral there are tears and there is grief, but.

But there was so much laughter because that story and it, again, it's joy and sorrow right there, you've experienced lately in the same place.

So making it concrete, such a big help.

I love that story.

And yeah, because for my dad, what he wanted was a celebration.

And so it was somewhat happy.

We shared stories, right?

And people, definitely one of his very close friends shared a mission story.

But it was so many funny, you know, like, it was just like so good.

It was so heartfelt, but it was also funny and it was endearing and so.

Absolutely.

I know what you're saying, but I love the story about your mom and your chimpanzee.

My mom would have been the one that would have been pulling me over.

I would have done it, but she would have been like, please, please, please.

Above my desk, I have some photos of friends and family and some things.

But one of the photos I have up there is from when I was a child, so I wasn't an adult yet, but it is me holding a baby.

I think it's a hold on a baby lion.

So it was way back, right?

Because you probably aren't allowed to do these things now.

But you know, at a.

At a thing where you just go take a picture, but I'm holding it, there's nobody around us.

I'm just holding this real animal.

But it's like, I love that picture because, I don't know, it just reminds me of.

I don't know, it's just, you know, it's like you said, I love looking at it, that's one of the reasons why it's the only picture of me as a kid that's on this particular, you know, area.

And, but that one just makes me so happy seeing it all the time.

So I'm absolutely with you.

And I think that's the point too.

Even about your, your mom's the, you know, the funeral pamphlet or information about her is that we don't have to follow any rules.

There are no rules, right?

I mean, somebody might, we might feel like there's rules, but there's not.

And we get to choose how we live and we get to choose our joy.

And if something seems happy or good to us or we connect with it, or we love something, then we shouldn't be afraid to share it or to show it or to go take a picture with a chimpanzee.

And so I definitely encourage people, you can do the same if we just live a little bit more spontaneous, right?

And say, doesn't that look fun?

You know what I mean?

Or I love fresh flowers in the house, you know, but.

And if I don't have any in my yard, I'll go buy them for myself for my house.

But some people I think, think, oh well, no one bought me flowers.

You don't need permission, you don't need to wait if they make you happy.

Seeing beautiful, bright colored flowers makes me really happy as I walk in my kitchen or my office, you know, so it's like, do those little things for yourself.

Love that.

Sometimes I will keep a cross reference list.

Other people have different names for it, but it'll be, it'll be a list of things that bring me joy.

Like you said, like the flowers.

Like for a lot of people it's being outdoors, just being outdoors, just anything.

And if you keep a running list because you, you won't be able to think of everything all at once, but just a running list.

And then when life gets hard, or even on a everyday, superficial level, if you have a task that you are just dreading.

I hate pain.

You know, if you can marry that tough place with something that gives you joy.

And a lot of times people don't remember to give themselves those little pieces of joy.

I read and I wish I could remember the name of the book.

I don't.

But this woman lost her best friend.

Her best friend died and she was an outdoors woman all the way.

And it just breathed life into her.

And she said after her friend died, she said, I went into the woods because no other arms were big enough.

I thought that that does It.

So it's so simple.

It's such a simple thing to do.

Just keep a list and then go look at the list and, oh, yeah, I need.

I need to get outside today.

Absolutely.

And, you know, there's a. I. I don't know the quote.

It's.

It's a book I have in here somewhere.

I think it's a devotional, but I think it's Shanti, not Feldman, but it's Feldhan Felden, something like that.

But she basically is talking about.

Her and her husband were having a really tough time.

I don't remember if he lost his job, but something had happened in their life, right?

So they were struggling and trying figure out what was next.

And financially, things are going to be hard, but they're driving through the mountains, I think, in Colorado, and as they're just, you know, feeling the weight of life, they turn the corner, right?

They're in the mountains, and they just see the majestic mountains, right, Kind of with the light coming.

And they.

They had that feeling of awe that you get in big nature sometimes.

And, you know, she reminds you in that book or on that page that you cannot feel fear or worry or even sadness in the same moment that you have, that you feel awe or gratefulness, in other words.

So when we are grateful, when we are writing down or we're taking note of something good that happened in our day or something at least, that we can be appreciative of, or if we are in something where we see this gorgeous sunset where there's purples and oranges and, you know, pinks in the sky, and you just take a minute to be present and really be awestruck by it, all the other feelings will go away in that moment, right?

And if we let ourselves experience those things, some of the hard things feel a little less heavy, I think, you know, in the scheme of things, right?

When.

When my daughter was little, four years old, maybe it was raining one day, and she thought rain was just the most amazing thing ever.

And I was.

And I was preoccupied with something else.

And she came up to me and said, mommy, let's put on our swimsuits and go walking in the rain.

And I thought, oh, no, it's raining so hard.

And we lived in a neighborhood where there were no secrets because nobody had a garage.

You went out on the sidewalk, and everybody knew.

I thought, oh, that just seems wrong on many levels.

But then I started to say no.

And then I said to her, to myself, you know, she's four years old once, and so we did it.

We put on our bathing suits.

She put on galoshes for some weird reason, and we went up and down the street in the rain for about 20 minutes.

And do you know, 40 years later, she remembers that 20 minutes, is 44 years old now and remembers that 20 minutes.

So you can't underestimate pulling into that joy.

Well, and I think you brought up a good point, which is I have three sons.

They're all about college age or just, just beyond.

And absolutely, you know, I've written about this before, that it's so easy to stand on the sidelines of a parent sometimes and be the cross carpal parent or the, you know, that we have to do dinner.

You know, we have all these things to do so we can say no to the playfulness of, of being with our children in the play, in the wonder.

And we have to be careful of that to, to not continue to say no.

I was on a plane, I don't know, a couple years ago, and there was a boy and a mom, I think, in behind me.

And the boy, I don't know how old he is.

I'm going to say he was 8 or 9 years old, but he, he was playing something, you know, on a little device, so probably like a Game Boy or something.

And he kept trying, he was so excited about something.

He kept trying to tell his mom, but she was just kind of like not going to have it, not going to, you know.

But from having sons that were probably just at the time a little bit older than that, I, like, I knew not to say, I never said probably no to something, but I had learned the lesson that sometimes I would sit at the beach and not go in the water with them.

And I learned, you know, when it was a snow day here, which for where we're from, right, we don't get snow all the time.

Like go.

I would go sledding with them and I would, you know, go out and trance around in the snow.

Actually, now I do it, whereas my boys are too old for that.

If you will go meet my girlfriend, then we go on a, A little adventure in the snow.

But my point is, is we have to remember that our choices and our saying yes give other people both permission to say yes to the joy, to the fun, to the wonder, and, and it teaches our kids or other people, right, if you're a teacher or something, it teaches them that they're important and that play and wonder and joy are important and they're worth making time for.

So I think that's really valuable.

Actually, yeah, yeah, good point.

I love it.

So let me ask you this.

You know, I know obviously your new devote or you know, your newest book is a devotional, talking about how we can still tap into the joy you've shared a little bit about, you know, some of the ways that you try to do that now.

But what about when you've walked through some of the tough times?

Were there additional things that helped you continue to pull those little bits of joy out or into your day?

There was one, one in particular that I. I try to look for God in the middle of a big bad story.

People ask me often, what about the times when something happens and there is no, none, no joy in this circumstance.

And there's plenty of that.

I think we all know that.

And that happened to us.

My father in law at 91 years old got Covid.

He had been in assisted living and we couldn't see him for three weeks.

And then he had to go to the hospital once he was diagnosed.

My husband, we were both very close to him, but my husband extremely close to his father and just broke our hearts to be separated from him like that.

So he was in the hospital and everybody was holed up at home and we were just sick with worry.

But there was a nurse and her name was Karen.

And she called us on her personal phone and said, I just want you to know.

And she was dressed at the time in a.

Something that looked like a hazmat suit.

You know, in the very beginning nobody could touch anybody, but she would continually with her gloved hand stroke his forehead and say what a sweet man he was.

And she said, I hope it's okay.

I found a computer and I brought it in and I started to play old hymns on the computer.

She didn't know that he listened to hymns on the radio ever since his wife had died years before to put himself to sleep and to soothe himself.

And so that was wonderful.

Well, it didn't take break, but a couple days before she called us and said, you might want to speak to your dad.

And so we were talking to him and he said he was having trouble breathing and he choked out the words, I'm ready to go.

And of course we were not ready to let him.

Yeah, but he was very clear headed and, and he was ready.

So we said, okay, stop.

Stop everything if that's what you want.

Nurse Karen held her personal phone.

I can't even tell you how long it was.

I cannot.

He slipped into unconsciousness.

She still held the phone and Held it and held it until we watched his breaths.

And at one point when his chest failed to rise and said, I think he's gone.

And she checked and she nodded her head and she cried.

Yeah.

With us.

And I've always said it was the most beautiful, terrible thing I have ever experienced in my life.

To think on one hand that we couldn't be with him.

I know that time.

But on the other hand, that we lived in an age where technology allowed us to be with him and at least to be there in one form or another and usher into the arms of God was just amazing.

And I said that, lady, that circumstance was awful.

Yes.

Looking for redemption in a big bad story is.

Wow, that's so important.

Yeah.

Oh, first of all, I'm sorry I had to go through that and I know a lot of people did.

Actually one of my uncles, he doesn't live near me, but it's similar.

Sadly, a similar story happened to him and similar outcome.

You know, he was in the hospital as well, and his kids couldn't go see him and everything during COVID and he also passed in the hospital.

But sadly, we all probably know a lot of people that had that terrible experience.

But the fact, like you said, that you had, and I know there were so many caring nurses and people and that showed grace and love and just a level of compassion that they were there with, with some of our loved ones.

And, you know, not everybody got that or not.

The circumstances weren't all that.

And so thank you for sharing that because you're right.

Even in the terrible situation that so many of us found ourselves in during early Covid especially, and not knowing and just the roles of the hospital and the care facilities, it seemed inhumane, but we didn't get to choose these things.

Right.

And so the fact that you had someone that came alongside your father in law and, you know, you all could still be talk to him and be a part of it, even though it wasn't what you wanted.

Of course, that's.

That's beautiful.

And like you said, it doesn't make it seem joyful, but what it does is it gives us a sense of appreciation or seeing some moment of good or of someone's love or outreach, even when we're going through something really hard.

Right.

Like, same with my dad, when he was really ill, he had hospice coming.

And for my stepmom, especially, having those people come, the different people that came, was a godsend for her because it was support.

Not just like maybe to help him shower, but it was support for her to talk like, do you have what you need?

You know, let me.

You know, so it.

All of those things.

I mean, the situation wasn't great, but none of us could fix that.

But there was people that came alongside her.

We all came alongside her.

Right.

And so she felt as supported as she could, and we did going through a really hard diagnosis and then going into, you know, the final stages of life.

And so, once again, we could choose to only look at the tough and difficult.

But if we are willing to look, we can find the beautiful moments, the moments of connection and the moments of people coming, you know, being.

Being there for us.

And so I think that's where we find the grace and the moments, whether you want to call that joy or not, but it's.

It's joyful because it's the opposite in those moments of the hard and the sad things, I think, you know, and.

You know, I define joy as deep delight.

Yes.

Easier soul.

And with a definition like that, you.

You can.

At least I can understand how you could even call that joy.

It was.

We took such delight in this lady, and it really did feed our souls, even though we were.

Absolutely.

I agree with you.

Okay, so let me ask you this.

We've kind of talked a little bit about just, you know, having a playfulness about our lives, about, you know, tapping into, you know, just the other things, wonder, saying yes to things that will delight us.

But is there anything else you just share with us about, you know, you've already shown that you obviously move towards those things, that you invite them into your life.

But anything else you just want to.

Share about that, I will tell you one thing, one more thing that really helps me, and I think it helps a lot of people if you're feeling particularly unjoyful and that to do something for someone else.

And that is not new news, but I need to be reminded of it periodically.

You know, one Halloween, I have a friend, and we both love to dress up, and nobody was inviting us to their Halloween parties.

And we were ruing the fact that, you know, adults, oh, while, you know, they just stand in the street while the kids have all the fun and this and that.

So we decided that we would dress up and we would do what we called a reverse trick or treat, because two adults ringing a doorbell and holding a pillowcase out would not go over well.

But we decided that we would give treats away.

So we dressed up, we got it, made ourselves a list of people that we knew who had had a rough time, who were having a rough time or had had a rough year and we went all dressed up and gave out candy.

So simple.

So, so simple.

But let me tell you, it's just joy shot after joy shot after joy shot, whatever.

And both of us over the years have gone through some, some really tough things and we've been doing that maybe eight years now.

Yeah.

So we said we'll, we'll be, you know, 98 year old ladies hobbling inflammation to people's doors.

I love it.

I love that.

Yeah.

And even during COVID I remember, you know, when some of my girlfriends, they had their birthdays and you know, at the very beginning.

Right.

Of most people weren't having big celebrations or gathering because nobody knew and all the things.

But you know, I remember like we would, we did like little special things for the people that missed their birthdays.

You know what I mean?

Maybe we couldn't all be together in the house, you know, at the beginning at least, or whatever, but we would go do like you said, little things to bring them joy, you know, maybe do stuff in their yard or bring, you know, ring their doorbell and bring them something and leave it on the porch or, you know.

But your point is we can all tap into that spirit of giving, that spirit of extending out like a little surprise and love.

Whether it's bringing a neighbor that you want to, you know, brighten their day a little potted plant or some basil from your garden.

Right.

Or doing something fun like on Halloween.

You know, the kids don't get to only have the fun.

Right.

We should too.

So I love, I love that practice and example.

That's amazing.

So let me ask you this.

What would you say is filling you up and fueling you right now as we're, you know, in the not quite to the middle of September?

A couple things I'd have to say right now.

I've been speaking for a long time, but I'm really putting an emphasis on it now.

And I've started speaking outside the church walls to educators on their professional development days because they, at least the educators in my area complain about professional development days and how they're forced to sit through things they're not interested in.

Teachers have had it tough.

They're near and dear to my heart.

That has been.

I've spoken to counselors to.

Just filling me up.

Absolutely.

And I'm also getting more involved, kind of related to speaking and storytelling.

So I'm going to a conference in Nashville in October.

But I'm also going to take improv lessons in January.

So fun.

And also disco balls.

In particular.

And confetti.

I went into an ice cream shop, I don't know, a month ago, I went into the bathroom, and all of a sudden, the disco ball, the light goes off in the bathroom and disco ball comes and it's shining around.

So I put a disco ball in my kitchen, and I also have one that fits on your phone, so you can.

You can, you know, at a stop.

Oh, my gosh, that's awesome.

Yeah.

And I'm with you.

I love confetti and all the beautiful, happy things, you know, because, you know, we don't need to wait for a birthday or a celebration day to celebrate.

You know, as you kind of alluded to earlier, every day is actually a reason to celebrate, you know, and the, you know, we.

If we still get to wake up and have a breath, you know, and live this day, that is a reason to be joyful and to, you know, embrace the day.

And like you said, we don't need to fit in some mold or be, you know, serious and stodgy.

We can be fun and fun loving as we get older and not say, either of us are old.

I just meant, you know, we're not 15.

Yeah.

My mom's in her 80s.

She's a professional artist, and she's all about, like I've kind of mentioned earlier, she's all about the fun and the colors and painting and drawing.

Right.

So, absolutely.

I get that from her, you know, much like, you know, you probably had some of that growing up as well, but.

Okay, so tell us, Jill, where can people find out about your newest book and your podcast and everything else you're speaking and all that good stuff?

Mainly if you just go to my website, jillbond.com that it's all there, the book.

And you can find the book anywhere that you most.

Anywhere that you would buy books.

So Amazon, Christian Book, Barnes and Noble, all those places.

So.

So it's really easy to find, but my website will take you to the podcast and to the book and to everything else.

Absolutely.

I love it.

Well, thank you for taking the time to come on and join us to share your stories of, you know, finding joy in everyday moments.

Just sharing with us.

How can we tap into more fun and just more real.

Just like real moments in life.

Right.

Things that are going to light us up.

Because I think when we're all more lit up, we are just a testament to life, to how good it can be, even though there's going to be.

Hard and difficult things.

And so just thank you for taking the time and joining us today.

My extreme pleasure.

Really fun.

If you enjoyed today's episode, if you could leave a rating review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts, it helps the show get discovered by more people so that we can continue to uplift and encourage people in their faith journey as well as all of the other parts of their lives.