Most people that have been around me thinking I'm smoking rock. In other words, I am so happy that they think I must be on some sort of drugs. However, that's not the case at all. In fact, the strongest thing I am on is caffeine. For the most part, I don't even take Tylenol or Aspirin. I think the reason that I am so happy is because I have the truth rock in my life. That rock is Jesus Christ, and he is the only foundation upon which you can build anything of value. I tend to think of happiness as having a sufficient amount of everything that you need, not lacking in anything, but not having anything in excess either. This is what the Lord promises us. He promises us that his grace will be sufficient for us, and that he will never allow us to be burdened with more than we can bear. In addition, he promises us that he will provide us a way out so that we will be able to stand up under our burdens. Happiness is not the absence of difficulty, problems, or struggle in life. Those things are guaranteed. Besides, "too much sunshine in life makes a desert." I tend to think of life in terms of comparisons. For instance, no matter what is happening to me at this present moment there is always a whole host of things that I am thankful are not happening to me. I truly do believe that there is always something to be thankful for and "that there is nothing that can happen that is so bad that good may not come of it." A little exercise that seems to keep me happy on a daily basis is when things don't exactly go my way and I'm not exactly having the best of days is to think of how it could have been worse. I do this even in the most miniscule of circumstances. For instance, I spilled my drink all over my shirt and I thought well that's not all that bad because I still have time to go back home and change. I got stuck in traffic and I thought well it could be worse because I could be the car involved in the wreck that is backing up traffic. Now that is a compartively worse day than mine.
Earlier I mentioned how happiness is having just enough of everything. This can also be carried down to the most ordinary aspects of your daily life and bring you a smile. For example, you go to brush your teeth and you have just enough toothpaste left to brush with or it's lunch time and you have four bucks in your console with which to get a hamburger. I don't know but little stuff like that always makes me happy. On the other hand, it's also important not to have too much of anything, even wealth. For instance, Jesus tells us, "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven." This is because his wealth ties him too much to this world and makes him love the world and money more than he does God. It is important to have some degree of strife in our lives so that we never forget how truly fragile life is and how dependent upon God that we are. After all, the Bible tells us that we are but a breath. Besides, if things went too terribly well for us in this world we would most likely think we could do things all on our own and that we did not need God. "A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?" In other words, we would love this world too much and forfeit our very souls for it.
We should never expect anything of this world to make us happy or to satifsy our seemingly unfathomable longing. We are not of this world. We were created with eternal souls that long to be with their Creator. This world is the kingdom of the devil so it is place of evil and sin and pain, and the devil will do his best to make sure that you continue to experience these things. In fact, by assuring your misery, he will assure your seperation from your Father in Heaven. The devil does not mind if you have temporary happiness, the kind that is found by amusing ourselves with the sinful things of this world such as sex, money, and drugs. However, he will do everything in his power to make sure that you do not find true and lasting happiness, which can only be experienced by those who are continously fellowshipping with their Lord and Savior.
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