The dictionary describes being happy as: Delighted, pleased, or glad, as over a particular thing. Joy is described as: the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying.
So, by 9:30am yesterday morning I was at a point of screaming! My dear, sweet older boys are going through a stage of enjoying fighting with each other. We work on things everyday & thankfully they are getting better, but there are moments when I feel like an odd remembrance of knowing that..hmm...I've said these words before..."Stop fighting with each other. God wants us to love each other, you are best friends.." Stop the madness!
After putting them in their rooms to just have some play time by themselves, I immediately proceeded to have a conversation with the Lord! I found myself just expressing my thoughts of feeling so unhappy with the moment of this day. Disliking so much the constant fighting & asking the Lord to give me the strength to keep going & keep up with the constant consistency of the day. In the Lord's sweet way, I feel like He spoke directly to my heart in regards to my happiness. The sweetness of his voice spoke to me that He doesn't desire me to be happy. What?! You don't want me to be happy with the life I have? "I want you to have joy & sweet contentment in me & that alone." So, I thought about this all day & finally had a moment to really take a look at what the different meanings are between joy & happiness. Being happy is temporal & based on "things" or even your circumstances. Joy is great delight found in something exceptionally good or satisfying. Things don't ultimately satisfy..only God does & in that is joy.
Finding joy in the mundane, everyday things we have the blessing of doing. Finding joy amidst the fighting of my children or the sweetness of the chaos. Finding joy when all I really want to do is run away for the moment. Please don't get me wrong, I love my life...I love my husband so dearly....I love my children so dearly...I love the blessing of being at home with them...I am truly blessed by the Lord!
The sweetness of the Lord's voice to me yesterday convicted me that I am striving towards my "happiness" being on the next fun thing we do or circumstances that I might enjoy in my life. I need to yearn towards the "joy" of just being...just being in the Lord. The precious knowing that all He desires is us & all we should desire is Him....that it overflows into every area of our lives....anointing us with His joy. Happiness is a thing of the past....I'm moving on to joy.
3 comments:
"Moving on to Joy..." - It sounds like a great title for a book, or a blog...=). Good thoughts for a crazy afternoon at my house! I need to remember this (amidst the screaming here from time to time - I'm sure you can hear it all the way in Colorado!).
Sarah - is that my screaming or your kids that you heard today? :)
Oh, Earen -- where would I be in my life some days without our friendship? I'm so very glad you started to blog -- I can tell it will be a blessing to me each day. I really needed to read this today. Hugs, my friend. Love you.
I have truly been humbled lately at how much God has blessed me in my life.
Reading your blog, and seeing what's on your heart, Earen, has made me appreciate my faith, my family, and my friendships so much more. You are inspiring to me, and I wish I was going to be living in CO for a while longer so that we could spend afternoons getting coffee or watching our kiddos play together.
How blessed I am though, that we have these blogs. What a wonderful way to continue to share our hearts while we're so far apart!
Thanks for your wisdom, and for sharing your heart. I love reading about revelations like this. It challenges me!
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