Oh! This one is one of my favorites. This beautiful hymn, as mentioned yesterday, was written in the 1930's in the midst of terrible times. Glory to God for All Things! What a tool of gratefulness, a tool to open our eyes to His beauty all around. This one here, the 2nd Kontakion and Ikos …
Author: Susan
I am an Orthodox Christian, a deacon’s wife, a mother, and an aspiring Kindler of Joy.
Over the last year or so, I believe I’ve begun to understand, by the grace of God, where we can begin to find happiness. True happiness. My heart longs for a deeper connection to those around me and to creation. I want to feel joy not only in myself but to see it on the face of people I love and those that God brings my way.
Thus, begins my journey to become a Kindler of Joy. It is a journey, a path of learning and growing. So I’ve created my blog as a reminder to myself, daily, to open my eyes and find the beauty and joy around me.
Akathist of Thanksgiving
In honor of it being the week of Thanksgiving I would like to share with you, each day, an excerpt from a beautiful hymn called "Glory to God for All Things". Another title is Akathist of Thanksgiving. Last year I shared the hymn in its entirety in one post. This year I want to share …
Sunny Sunday
Welcome to Sunday, the Lord's day. The day we are reminded that Christ is Risen. Everyday. He has conquered death. I love Sundays. One of my favorite parts of the hymnography for the Resurrection is that over and over again we hear how Christ has conquered death. He has brought light from darkness. It is …
New in the Shop Today!
Reminders! I am excited to introduce my 5x7 print "Reminders" for sale in the shop starting today! These 5x7 prints of various Psalms, prayers and quotes are really the heart of Kindler of Joy and key for my own "journey to joy". I want to share them with you. They are reminders of His beautiful …
Letter Writing Christmas Prep
Letter Writing Wednesday brings us to Christmas Prep! Last year I had created a tradition to bring back the good, old-fashioned idea of sending Christmas Cards in the mail! Many still do this, but many do not, thinking that social media photos and greetings are just as good. I beg to differ. Send joy! Send …
Sunny Sunday
Good morning and welcome to Sunny Sunday! Each Sunday I write and post about Resurrection hymns we sing each Saturday evening and Sunday at Liturgy. I absolutely love being able to do this. It has truly been influential in my climbing out of the darkness. And as I was trying to come up with a …
Take Comfort
Earlier this week in my post Death is Overthrown I mentioned that I was reading Way of the Ascetic by Tito Colliander. I've been pondering on this very short section of his book, On Times of Darkness, all week. I shared how comforting it was to know that "even the saints have had their dark …
In the Name of the Lord
This is what I read this morning. Everything. In word or deed! Everything in the name of the Lord. I kind of see this as, would the Lord bless what it is that I am doing? Or am I doing this for my own selfish gain or is what I am doing glorifying God? This …
Death is Overthrown
The joyous message of the Resurrection is ours to hear, "Death is overthrown! Christ God is risen, granting the world great mercy!" It makes me happy to sing this. This sentence is so powerful! It peels away the heaviness that has been weighing me down. I feel as if I have been overcome by heavy …
Enlightened!
I have started taking early morning walks lately and it has been truly inspiring. It has become clearer to me, even more so, that all has been enlightened. All of creation that is. I will never tire of it's explicit beauty all around. Rich in colors. Intricate in detail. While walking I often find myself …
