The Joy Series: Finding Joy in Relationships - The People Who Water Your Garden
The Joy Series: Finding Joy in Relationships - The People Who Water Your Garden Post 5 of the Joy Series I want to start this post with a woman you have never met. Her name was Dorothy. But to me, she was Mom. She was one of the most giving, loving, and quietly joyful people I have ever known. She volunteered for my brother's school and for the Special Olympics. She collected money for the American Heart Association. She was always the first to show up when a neighbor was in need. She loved deeply and without condition and without judgment. And she did all of this while living in a home where her own joy was being quietly diminished. My father was not kind to her. He stifled who she was and who she could have become. He did not honor her the way she deserved to be honored. And yet her joy shone through. Not loudly. Not dramatically. But steadily, like a candle that refuses to go out no matter how strong the wind. I did not understand until very recently, sitting with my ow...