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

Six.

You are six years old. And I will be forever thankful that I have known you outside of my womb for this long, that I have gotten the chance to watch the beginnings of your unique and dynamic journey, and that every single day our family has gained something special from you being in our lives. You are six years old. And I love so much of what that means. The parts that make me smile with the confidence of knowing you are still a small child. The parts of being six that make me take a deep breath and just soak in the moments of your innocence. You are six years old. And I hesitantly accept the parts that I do not completely love. The parts that make me look at your daddy with trepidation in the middle of one of your stories or questions. The facets of this age, of this growing up, that make me wince and tense up and struggle with letting you go. I know that you are only six. I see the way your face brightens when you point at a full moon or the proud smile when you re...

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...

on Education

as the school year comes to a close, i think about what i would like to teach my girls... On Education: girls, i hope that the wide-eyed wonder with which you seem to approach every book these days, stays with you as you navigate through the educational institutions you attend on your journey. i pray that your curiosity grows with each course and each subject matter, that you investigate and explore and research and discover. i hope that you construct knowledge in your own unique ways and that you realize that knowledge is not absolute. i hope you always love literature and that you embrace the power of the written word. i hope that you find yourself through your own writings and awaken passions to travel and to study culture and to explore the world through great stories and poetry and treasured rhetoric. i hope that you acknowledge the beauty and complexity of science and math and history and other fields of study also. please respect your teachers. know that they h...

butterfly. babies. love.

Search This Blog