Growing Joy

There are many misconceptions about what it means to be humble. Some think that being humble means hiding your talents and abilities or being weak and inauthentic. But the Bible paints a different picture—defining humility as a self-forgetfulness leading to joy and explaining that it is a life-giving virtue that frees you from the restricting needs of your ego. In Humility: The Joy of Self-Forgetfulness, Gavin Ortlund encourages listeners that humility is not just an abstract virtue but a mark of gospel integrity.

Some of the most profound growth of our lives can happen in the home stretch, the years after age 60 or so. It's a time when we can finally crystallize the meaning of what we've been and done so far and fully expand into the self we've always intended to be, guided by the voice of the soul. But, says psychologist Charles Garfield, that can only happen if we first loosen the grip of the life we've led so far, the one that's been focused outwardly - on activity, achievement, and the idea of success - and let our souls lead the way.

For years, I struggled with my self-image and how to make my dual pursuits of faith and fitness fit together. Maybe you can relate. Everything changed one day when I decided I was tired of looking in the mirror and started looking solely toward God. What he showed me is that true strength - physical, emotional, and spiritual - starts from the inside out. When you're staying connected to God, you'll find that eating well and exercising regularly will be so much easier. Your faith, food choices, and fitness will all just naturally flow together as part of your healthy and whole life.

Over half a million listeners have joined the journey of Instagram sensations Ashley and Dino Petrone. Through their popular online community Arrows and Bow, Ashley and Dino share their adventures, mishaps, and joys of building a life together using an unexpected element: design.

In Sloane’s world, true feelings are forbidden, teen suicide is an epidemic, and the only solution is The Program. Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who’s been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone - but so are their memories.

Ryan Hart is caught in the middle. She has an older brother and a new baby sister, and she’s in a friendship tug-of-war with two friends who both want to be her best best friend. How can Ryan think about being kind to a classmate who is relentless with his teasing? Or be her signature sunny self when her brother, Ray, pulls the ultimate prank? But even when it seems like nothing is going her way, Ryan still looks for a way to see the bright side of things, refusing to let anything steal her joy, and finding ways to share it with everyone she meets.

During her own year of transition—a milestone birthday, a wedding anniversary, the emptying of the nest—Walrond, in the buoyant and luminous style her listeners have come to love, does a deep dive into dimensions of getting older, including health, beauty, spirituality, connection, adventure, and meaning and purpose. Through conversations with social workers and neurologists, activists and clergy, Walrond satisfies her curiosity about why the dominant culture treats aging as a time of dwindling capacity.

Oregon teenager and tennis champ Jeff McKenzie can’t wait for summer vacation. But when he decides to take his Bronco for a joyride on the Hamptons’ farm land, he gets into real hot water. As punishment Jeff is ordered to work on the farm for the first few weeks of summer. Getting up early and working with Mexican immigrants just doesn’t appeal to him. The only thing he looks forward to is seeing the Hamptons’ eldest daughter Alexa, who he is quickly falling for. Gradually he comes to appreciate the hardworking people....

Postcard-perfect Jar Island is home to charming tourist shops, pristine beaches, amazing oceanfront homes - and three girls secretly plotting revenge. KAT is sick and tired of being bullied by her former best friend. LILLIA has always looked out for her little sister, so when she discovers that one of her guy friends has been secretly hooking up with her, she’s going to put a stop to it. MARY is perpetually haunted by a traumatic event from years past, and the boy who’s responsible has yet to get what’s coming to him. None of the girls can act on their revenge fantasies alone without being suspected. But together…anything is possible .

Lillia, Kat, and Mary had the perfect plan. Work together in secret to take down the people who wronged them. But things didn’t exactly go the way they’d hoped at the Homecoming Dance. Not even close. For now, it looks like they got away with it. All they have to do is move on and pick up the pieces, forget there ever was a pact. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, burn for a burn. A broken heart for a broken heart. The girls are up to the task. They’ll make Reeve fall in love with Lillia and then they will crush him. It’s the only way he’ll learn.

The path to joy is paved with adversity as Carmen Browne discovers in the fourth book in the series from best-selling author Stephanie Perry Moore. Perfect Joy captures the tumultuous changes every sixth-grade girl faces - including new friendship.

It’s hard to imagine things could get worse after one’s parents die in a greenhouse explosion. But that is precisely what happens to Basil and his younger sister, Dahlia. They escape from the social worker who wants to split them up to different foster homes by jumping off a moving train, only to find themselves wounded (Dahlia) and bedraggled (Basil) and without a soul to care for them. What’s more, they’re lost in the wilds of New York City.

Three sisters listen to their grandmother recount a mesmerizing childhood memory on a rainy afternoon. The long complex story, filled with danger and excitement, relates what happened when Ying-ying was seven and celebrating the Moon Festival in China. On that long-ago night of the Moon Festival, she encountered the Moon Lady, who grants the secret wishes of those who ask.

In Ageless Soul, Moore offers to listeners a fresh, optimistic, and rewarding path toward aging, one that need not be feared but rather embraced and cherished. In Moore's view aging is the process by which one becomes a more distinctive, complex, fulfilled, loving, and connected person.

From 17 acclaimed Black male and nonbinary authors comes a vibrant collection of stories and poems about the power of joy and the wonders of Black boyhood.

The Storm Dragons will harness the incredible powers of thunder, lightning, and snow to help defeat a brand-new villain the Magic Forest: The Chaos Queen. Hana the Thunder Dragon doesn't like bullies. So she's determined to stop the Chaos Queen from causing trouble all over the Magic Forest. All she needs is a little help from her friends—and a lot of dragon magic!

Sondra y su mejor amigo, Jonathan, finalmente lograron ahorrar suficiente dinero para asistir al campamento de sus sueños: Camp Vert. Cuando sus cabañas se enfrentan en la competencia, ¿podrán los dos dominar el truco? Y más importante aún, ¿mantendrán su amistad en plena rivaldad?

¿Qué significa estar feliz? Los niños aprenderán cómo se siente la felicidad, cómo sus sentidos pueden afectar sus emociones y cómo identificar y manejar sus sentimientos. Se incluye una actividad de reflexión que permite a los niños explorar sus sentimientos.

When twins Lydia and Marco are approached to be on their dance studio's jazz team, Lydia is thrilled. She and Marco both love to dance and used to have fun dancing together as kids. But lately, it seems their relationship has grown more distant. Lydia can't wait to dance with her brother again, but Marco is worried. He's used to hip-hop and will be the only boy on the team. And when bullies start mocking Marco for doing "girl dances", it could spell trouble for the whole team.

Grunt the Grizzly was a grumpy bear. But his grumpiness was making him miserable. Luckily, he has amazing friends, Punk the Skunk, Sloan the Sloth, and Brave the Beaver, who teach him that he can be in charge of his own happiness. Maybe their mantra can help him see past the negative and focus on the positive.