Joy in the Journey by Julie De Azevedo

This is actually a post I did over a year ago, but I decided to go ahead and post it:)

As I was preparing my lesson for Sunday for the 12-13 year old young women I teach I came across a song I have had for a quite a while. After I finish reading through my lesson a couple times, the first thing I go to is my plethora of music. Music always inspires me to go the direction the Spirit would have me go, to teach the girls what they need to hear. The lesson is on Finding Joy Now. How can we find joy now, among all the turmoil of the world around us? Each of us go through constant change in our lives, whether it be good change or bad change, quick change or slow change. It is up to us to find joy among that change. The song I turned to immediately was from the 1998 EFY cd. The theme that year was Joy in the Journey. This song has so many profound phrases in it. Phrases that remind us that, as rough, confusing, and frustrating that this life, this journey can be, there is always joy to be found in it. Here are words to the chorus:

there is joy in the journey, joy in the climb

twisting and turning, reaching for the open sky

carving out each footstep in the struggling we find,

there is joy in the journey

there is hope, there is peace, there is joy in the journey

Here is a great quote from the lesson I was preparing:

"This is our one and only chance at mortal life—here and now. The longer we live, the greater is our realization that it is brief. Opportunities come, and then they are gone. I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now." President Thomas S. Monson, Nov. 2008

Here's a video I found on YouTube with this song, and its lyrics, enjoy. And remember to find Joy in your Journey.