Dust-Covered Happiness

Brothers and sisters who are loved by God,

Happiness is a choice. It's work but it's still yours to claim. It's a setting of the shoulders BEFORE you enter the bad stuff.

I know, I know. "Bad" is a relative term because we don't know what blessings the hard stuff leads to...but boy, we understand what that looks like in the midst of it. It's hard to feel happy when relationships you depend on feel shaky. When your AC goes out and you have a child home, that is not easy. The moment your husband tells you he no longer has a job is a moment where happiness is forgotten. When your dad is sick beyond care you can offer, it feels like the groans are the only sounds your heart will make again.  Happiness takes EFFORT.

We understand life can be HARD. No one argues that. Even for Christians, maybe especially for Christians, things are not lily white. Everyday we face conflict between the flesh and the Spirit.  What non-believers (and some believers!) don't understand is that when we make the decision to follow Jesus, that's about all we've done.  We're not perfect when we approach the cross and problems don't magically disappear. For most of us, that's just the BEGINNING of the healing process.

So here we are, standing before the glory of God, in the presence of Jesus the Messiah and the Holy Spirit has taken residence.  In stark contrast, we are broken creatures, unsatisfied with what the world has to offer in all our anger and disappointment, fear and trembling, unforgiveness and misery.  How does something like that find happiness? BECAUSE we can acknowledge that the Creator of the Universe is an ally. BECAUSE the ugliness of our starting point isn't where we're going to end up.  Can you see it?  It's where happiness begins.

Make a decision to be happy. There are days where you may forget what that looks like but it's worth pursuing. Some of us will find it covered with a thick layer of dust but happiness is yours for the taking. Don't let go.