There are seasons of life
when we quietly postpone joy.
We tell ourselves it will come later.
When the move finally happens.
When our health improves.
When life feels less complicated.
When we have more time.
We keep placing joy
just beyond today’s horizon.
But sometimes…
God has something entirely different in mind.
If someone had asked me a few years ago
where I thought I would find joy,
I don’t think I would have answered,
“Making socks.”
And yet…
that is exactly where it found me.
It began simply enough.
A knitting machine.
Beautiful skeins of wool.
Learning something new with my hands.
I wasn’t trying to discover anything profound.
I was simply making something.
Pair after pair,
I began to notice something unexpected.
The quiet rhythm.
The satisfaction of creating.
The delight of watching colour become something useful.
The small happiness of imagining warm feet on a cold day.
It wasn’t really about the socks.
It was about what was happening inside me.
Without realizing it,
I had made space for joy.
Sometimes we imagine joy arriving
with great fanfare.
A dream fulfilled.
A prayer answered.
A life finally arranged exactly as we hoped.
But so often,
joy slips in through an ordinary doorway.
While tending a garden.
Restoring an old piece of furniture.
Learning to bake bread.
Painting.
Walking a familiar path.
Holding a cup of tea in the morning light.
Doing something simply because it brings life to your soul.
I wonder if God delights in surprising us this way.
Not because the work itself is extraordinary,
but because He knows that our hearts come alive
when we create,
when we notice,
when we receive His gifts with open hands.
Eventually I gave my little knitting project a name.
Sole Joy.
At first it was a play on words.
Joy for your soles.
Joy for your soul.
But the longer I worked,
the more I realized
the name had chosen itself.
Because somewhere between the yarn,
the rhythm,
and the quiet afternoons,
God had placed joy
where I never thought to look.
Perhaps you have been waiting
for a different season before allowing yourself to be joyful.
But what if joy is already waiting in something beautifully ordinary?
- A hobby.
- A conversation.
- A meal shared.
- A quiet morning.
A simple act of creating.
Joy does not always arrive through life’s biggest moments.
Sometimes, it slips quietly into our hands while we are busy making something with the gifts God has already given us.
Where might joy be waiting for you in an unexpected place today?
Continue you journey:
