Happiness isn't difficult. It doesn't have to be elusive. It's not a secret puzzle that can only be solved by a few.
Happiness is all about attitude and choice.
We choose to be happy or to be miserable. PERIOD.
Each day when we get out of bed, we can have a glass half full attitude, or we can see everything as half empty.
I'm sorry, but it really is as simple as that (serious mental illness excepted). Don't try to tell me that YOUR circumstances are different and that's why you aren't happy. Baloney!
Don't start with the "well, ifs". You know its not true and I ain't buyin' it!
"Well, if I felt better I would be happy." Brrrrp! (That's supposed to be that game show sound meaning "wrong answer".) You can be happy when you feel terrible. You can choose to find the good things in life despite your health. Examples of people overcoming physical disabilities and diseases and having a great attitude abound. NEXT?
"Well, if I had more money I would be happy." Brrrrp. How much did you pay for that last package of Happy you bought at Walmart? It's not a matter of money, or even whether you can pay your bills. It's about gratitude. Happiness comes from a truly thankful heart. Choose to live minimally and within your means, no matter how modest. Focus on the gifts God gives - love, relationships, nature. Next?
"Well, if I had more time for me I would be happy." Brrrrp. You choose how to spend your time. You're in control of allocating your time. If you're overwhelmed, you are the one who can change your calendar and your commitments. Oh, I'll hear a lot of excuses here, but we waste a ton of time - Time we can reclaim for ourselves.
You get the idea. Happiness is your choice and only you can make it. No one can ruin your day unless you allow it. No one can give you gratitude - you must nurture that yourself. No one can wave a magic wand and make all your troubles disappear. But, you can choose to smile and be kind no matter what trouble the world brings.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? ...Matthew 6:24-34
I think the worry the Lord was warning us about was the kind of unhealthy focus that we allow to steal our happiness. When we spend our time worrying and focusing on all that is negative, it becomes harder to experience gratitude and joy. Jesus tells us that we are the most important thing in creation to God.
If we think about the greatness of the love from a God who would suffer and die so that we can enjoy a relationship with Him forever, how can we choose anything but happiness?
Be love and be blessed,
Tammy eve since you taught that Bible Study a couple years back I have wondered about you. You work in Dallas, live in a small town in between Bullard and here. When do you sleep? Yoy have had numerous mnedical problems. Many would give up. What does Tammy do? She has hubby turn up the mike after surgery to be heard from the pulpit. Would love to meet the folks who gave you birth and see what genes God gave you from them. (Playing Johnny Cash talking about HAPPY!) I love to ba HAPPY and the peopke I know are HAPPY.Cash went from and some jail to June who led him to our Lord and they both went to Jesus HAPPY! God bless the folks who are happy and pay it forward.it forward.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words. I give the credit for my good attitude to God - without Him I would be miserable. But, we can all choose God, can't we. Then, He enables us to find joy no matter the circumstances - just like Paul. I have bad days too, but those are few and I bounce back fairly quickly. People who are grateful for simple blessings are the happiest people I know. People who see the beauty in others are the ones everyone wants to be around.
Delete