🪣 Fill Up Your Joy Well

Why writing down funny, awkward, and meaningful moments keeps your heart young

When Life Feels Dry

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” — George Bernard Shaw

Some days joy feels out of reach. Not because nothing good is happening—but because we’re not tuned to see it. Joy has a way of leaking out through the cracks of hurry, bitterness, or just plain exhaustion.

But what if we could dig a well?

Not a wishful one—but a real, tangible way to collect and return to joy.

That’s what I’ve found in a simple practice: writing down the quirky, awkward, or hilarious moments of everyday life.

Things my kids say.

Stuff I say wrong.

The misunderstandings that leave us all laughing at the dinner table.

I jot these things down—just a few words in a notebook or phone note—and later, we revisit them together. We laugh again. And the room fills with something holy.

Laughter Is a Keeper

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.” — Proverbs 17:22 (AMP)

These moments are tiny—easy to overlook—but when you capture them, they become something more:

• They reset your heart.

• They bond your family.

• They remind you: joy is still here.

• And most of all—they fill up your well.

Here are a few I’ve written down recently:

• “Get ready for the hugestness” — what my daughter said while showing off her giant slime bubbles at the table.

• “Pigstar” — how my daughter misheard Pixar. Still my favorite animation studio.

• “Here we go, hat sideways” — the whispered words I apparently said to myself (in full dad-mode) while knocking down a wasp nest with a 15-foot pole… hat turned sideways to block the sun… unaware that my wife was watching the whole ridiculous moment unfold through the window.

They’re not groundbreaking. But they’re joy-sparking.

And when we read them back around the dinner table, they unlock something that’s already there but easy to forget: laughter, delight, the simple grace of being alive together.

Put It in the Mansion

Once you’ve written these joy-filled gems down, don’t just let them drift away in a random note or journal app. Give them a home.

That’s what I call  The Idea Mansion—a creative space where your thoughts, memories, and discoveries live with purpose. Funny moments, touching scenes, one-liners from your kids—they’re not just cute… they’re meaningful.

In the Mansion, these become more than memories.

They become windows into joy, seeds for stories, reminders of how God is near in even the silliest moments.