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Day of Happiness, Life of Joy

march 20th was international happiness day. 

i loved seeing clips and links online of stories, scenes, and pictures that made people happy.
it was a nice break from the usual... 

and i started to reflect on what makes me happy. i listed a few cute-as-a-button anecdotes in my head and replayed some funny memories and then i started thinking about how happiness is fleeting. 

happiness is a moment, even a long moment, that makes us smile or fills us with some sort of elation, but happiness dissipates. it comes and goes constantly, and occasionally making its presence known in the middle of a bleak day or a long winter, after that much-needed conversation, during a beautiful walk, while we are laughing with friends and loved ones. it reminds us of its existence when we are stopping to take a sip of warm tea or that morning coffee, and we have that nice moment. that moment where we smile and take a deep breath, and all seems well with the world. happiness is a great feeling, that is certain... it usually accompanies an accomplishment or a long-anticipated event that ends up going beautifully. it's also that second that you look in the mirror and take a double-take because you like what you see today. 

i like happiness. i would say i love happiness. but i strive for joy. i want to choose joy. joy requires a specific lifestyle. joy is the assurance that we have in this life that even when things seem hard, challenging, even impossible,  we are anchored in hope. we have this delight that seems to fill every crevice of our hearts. even when we are doubting or angry or confused, we know that there is this solid and everlasting Love that covers every part of our lives. joy is found in this notion that we rejoice in all things, in every situation, in every moment. it is a hard commitment, true, because it requires us to press on beyond our circumstance. 

but with faith comes joy and with joy comes that true understanding of eternity with a Loving Savior. 

i want my little ones to have moment after moment of happiness, but i know that this is not all that is promised in this life. i know that life for them will not always be this simple, this innocent, this happy. but i pray that it will be full of joy. i pray that they will always have that foundation of understanding that brings them peace and hope... and joy.

i thank God every day for the Joy that He has brought to my life. i know His Love through the way He has changed my life and i see His Love in so many of the blessings that He has gifted me... but i am trying to see that same Love in the things i am still pursuing, in the things i have yet to receive, and may never receive, after all... 

i want to have Faith, appreciating happiness, but full of Joy. 


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