Skip to main content

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. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

gratitude

my short list. i am thankful for God's Love: a Love that is too sacrificial and too remarkable for my human heart to fully contain... and for a Grace and Hope that is too divine and illogical and limitless for my human mind to even begin to fathom. i am thankful for a strong, stubborn man who loves our family with every ounce in him, understanding my quirks and weaknesses, while encouraging me through his quiet gestures and his commitment to responsibility and love.  i am thankful for two little girls -- fierce and loyal and strong-willed and tough and still soft around the edges... for the incredible joy of watching them grow and the unique love that i get to receive and offer daily.  i am thankful for the littlest one being formed in my womb, for the suspense and the excitement and anxiety that she brings with each turn and kick and movement and heartbeat... and for the incredible opportunity to, once again, nurture and carry a child for these months of intima...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Most Beautiful Mama

My mama has always been beautiful. It is a beauty that is natural and effortless and is the type of beauty that filled my heart with longing when I was a child. I can recall staring at how flawless the even color of her skin was, how adorable the few freckles were on her cheeks, how symmetrical her nose was. I remember thinking how absolutely perfect she looked in a sari, her pleats folded so pristinely, and the tuck of material into her waist seamless and smooth.   I would often feel the softness of my mother’s hands. Hands that had delicate fingers that moved with precision and purpose. Hands that kneaded chapati dough and even held tight to a lawn mower. No matter what she did, her hands were always soft, always welcoming, always beautiful. But she never liked to focus on her own physical beauty. My mother’s true beauty comes from within.  I understood certain aspects of this inner beauty when I was a child. The beauty that comes from her servant’s heart and her wor...
Post a Comment
Read more

on love

2015 will be a year of penning suggestions, prayers, advice for my girls. on love: love is not something simple. love is complex and it is most definitely worth waiting for. waiting is difficult, but it is necessary because you gain much knowledge and learn many lessons, all the while holding onto your own sense of independence and understanding of your unique place in this world. your daddy says that although it seems incredibly hard to wait for love, once you have it, you will see why it was so important. but, yes, it is hard when you are on the other side. i can tell you, with all honesty and sincerity, that love from a man is not something that you should be rushing towards; you should not move in that direction until you know your own value and your own worth, not until you understand that you are not defined by this world's standards of beauty or success or belonging. love can be once in a lifetime and it should be something that you pray about and fight for and wo...
Post a Comment
Read more