We have a basket of outdoor items for kids that sits on our front porch. It includes things like sidewalk chalk, bouncy balls, and bubbles. We go through bubbles pretty fast in our household, because inevitably they get spilled.

Yesterday afternoon, Brooke and I were out on the porch. David was still napping, so it was just me and her. She picked up one of the empty canisters of bubbles from the basket, pulled out the wand, and started shaking the wand, just as one would do to create bubbles if the canister were full. However, the canister was empty, so no bubbles formed. But the lack of bubbles didn’t deter Brooke from having fun. She repeatedly would dip the bubble wand into the canister, pull it out, shake it, and exclaim “bubbles!” with glee.

I learned a lesson watching Brooke do this for nearly 15 minutes. Brooke’s enjoyment in playing with bubbles wasn’t only found in the finished product (the appearance of actual bubbles). She found enjoyment in the whole process. And even though the finished product maybe wasn’t what she expected, she didn’t give up on the process. Because she was having fun in the process.

This experience was a good reminderL to find joy in the process of life, rather than only in the results of our efforts.