Don't you just love hearing children laugh? My kids can really get each other going and it is just hilarious. It is virtually impossible to hear kids laughing and not smile.
Laughing is sure a strange thing. I'm so glad God created us with the ability to laugh. It has a way of making us feel better. And apparently it is good for you. Click here to read an article about how laughter may build healthy blood vessels.
If you need a good laugh, just search for laughing babies on youtube. You will be entertained for at least an hour.
Here is a great one we found. It is of quadruplets laughing - adorable. Even funnier for me is the fact that my daughter keeps calling them quid droplets! How cute is that?
This post will serve as the last installment in the Being Happy Series. I appreciate all the nice comments people left for me saying how much they enjoyed it. As I mentioned in the first post, I can’t take all (or much) credit - most of this comes from a sermon my husband preached that I really enjoyed.
In order to be happy we must realize the truth of Romans 8:28: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
“For I learn as the years roll onward, and leave the past behind,
That much I have counted sorrow, but proves that our God is kind;
That many a flower I longed for, had a hidden thorn of pain,
And many a rugged bypath, led to fields of golden grain.
So the heart from the hardest trial, gains the purest joy of all,
And the lips that have tasted sadness, the sweetest songs that fall.
Then as joy comes after sorrow, and love’s the reward of pain,
So after earth is Heaven, and out of our loss is gain.”
Author Unknown
If you could see the outcome, you would rejoice. God is in control.
An Atlantic liner was caught in a storm. For two days the wind raged and the passengers were frightened. At last an anxious passenger climbed by great effort to where he could see the pilot. Coming back down among the passengers, he spread the glad tidings of peace. He said, “We are all right. The ship will make port; for I have seen the pilot, and he is smiling.” With the Great Pilot directing our life, we can smile through every storm. It is much nicer to trust in Him than to fret about what might be.
The rough roads cause us to appreciate the smooth ones. Many of us can look back on the hard times and see the good that was produced. It can be difficult to believe that all things work together for good when you are experiencing the bad - but God is a keeper of His promises and He said it would be so.
God knows what’s best and sometimes He says “No” to our prayers. But we must realize that there is no one more on our side than God and He causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him. When He says “No” it is a good thing. It is what is best. “No” is as a good an answer as “Yes”. God knows all - we don’t!
I like the saying: “Happy is the man who has learned to hold the things of this world with a loose hand.”
Money is like seawater; the more you drink, the thirstier you become.
We know a man who set a goal to make a million dollars. After achieving his goal, the man was asked, “You made your million, are you happy?”. Do you know what he said? “Now I want two million dollars.” It never ends. Satisfaction does not come to those who seek after money.
There is nothing wrong with having or making a lot of money; God blessed Job, Abraham, and David with a lot of wealth and they were definitely heroes of faith. It’s all about your focus and your priority. Do you remember the story of the rich fool in Luke 12 ?(Go and read that - click here)
We are to lay up treasure in heaven. John Newton one day went to visit a Christian family that had suffered the loss of everything they owned by fire. He said to the woman, “I give you joy, Madam.” Surprised, and ready to be offended, she exclaimed: “What? Joy that all my property is consumed?” “Oh, no,” he answered, “but joy that you have so much property that fire cannot touch.”
In Philippians 4:10-13 Paul said, “But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me: indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him, who strengthens me.”
Life is short. We just need a few things to get us through the here and now. Jack Exum talks about a song he would sing in the morning when he got up: “My needs are met, my needs are met, no need to fret, my needs are met.” I like that.
In Matthew 6:32-33, Jesus said, “Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.” It all comes down to this: Do you trust Him?
Hebrews 13:5, “Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.”
Here is a little poem for you:
“We squander health in search of wealth. We scheme and toil and save;
Then squander wealth in search of health and all we get’s a grave.
We live and boast of what we own—we die and only get a stone.”
-Anonymous
And one last thought:
“Money can buy you a bed, but it can’t buy you sleep.”
This is part 4 in the Being Happy series! I have two more installments planned and then we shall move on......
Another way to help yourself on the road to being happy is to change the way you look at things; change your perspective.
“It isn’t raining rain to me, it’s raining daffodils!
In every dimpling drop I see, wild flowers on the hills!
A cloud of gray engulfs the day, and overwhelms the town;
It isn’t raining rain to me, it’s raining roses down!
It isn’t raining rain to me, but fields of clover blooms,
Where any buccaneering bee, may find a bed and roam!
A health, then, to the happy, a fig to him who frets!
It isn’t raining rain to me, it’s raining violets!”
—Robert Loveman
It has been said: The way you see the world is usually the way the world sees you.
One area to check our perspective is the way we look at other people:
In Matthew 7:3 Jesus said, “And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” Some people like to go around looking for specks in other people. And guess what, if you look for specks in me, you are going to find them.
I heard of a guest preacher who got up to preach and realized that the local preacher had forgotten to tell the congregation that he was going to be out of town and had arranged for this preacher to come. The congregation was giving him funny looks so he said, “Brethren, now I know you don’t know me, but if you knew me, you’d like me, because I’m a good fellow.” If we approached people expecting them to be good we might get along better. I certainly would like people to approach me that way
Here is a great poem on this subject:
I Know Something Good About You
Wouldn’t this world be better,
if folks whom we meet would say
“I know something good about you,”
and treat you just that way?
Wouldn’t it be splendid,
if each handshake, good and true,
Carried with it this assurance:
“I know something good about you?”
Wouldn’t life be happier,
if the good that’s in us all,
Were the only thing about us,
that people would recall?
Wouldn’t our days be sweeter,
if we praised the good we see;
For there is a lot of goodness,
in the worst of you and me?
Wouldn’t it be fine to practice
this way of thinking too;
You know something good about me,
I know something good about you?
-Anonymous
Another area we should take care in is the way we look at our circumstances.
In Phil. 1:12-14 Paul wrote from prison, “Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.” If there was anyone who had the right to complain it was Paul—but he took a different perspective.
The only difference between a stumbling block and a stepping stone is the way you look at it. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. Bloom where you are planted.
Two men looked through prison bars; one saw mud, the other saw stars.
Take a look at Acts 5:40-42, “And they took his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them to speak no more in the name of Jesus, and then released them. So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.”
Another way for the faithful Christian to be happy is to think on heaven daily.
THINK—
Of stepping on shore and finding it Heaven;
Of taking hold of a hand and finding it God’s hand;
Of breathing a new air and finding it celestial air;
Of feeling invigorated and finding it immortality;
Of passing from storm and tempest to an unbroken calm;
Of looking up—and finding it HOME!
—Myrtle Erickson
Romans 12:12 talks about “rejoicing in hope.” That’s hope of heaven. As you know, Biblical hope is not “I wish I may, I wish I might.” No, Biblical hope is desire plus expectation. You know that feeling you get as a little kid when your class is talking about the upcoming field trip, the expectation and excitement? That’s how we ought to feel when we think and talk about heaven.
It’s really coming.
In Philippians 3:13-14 Paul said, “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” We need to get forgiven and forget it. We need to be looking and pressing forward to what is coming, the prize.
I like the saying: “Every morning, lean thy arms upon the windowsill of heaven and gaze upon thy Lord. Then with the vision in your heart, turn strongly to meet thy day.”
You want to be happy? Get the gratitude attitude and think of heaven daily.
I’ve heard it said, “It’s not what happens to you in life that matters, it’s what happens in you. Because if what happens in you is right, what happens to you doesn’t matter.”
This can be so hard sometimes! If we expect our spouse, our kids, our material possessions, our achievements or experiences to make us happy we will only be disappointed. Things happen. We have control over very little in this life. However, we do have control over ourselves.....
“One ship goes east, another goes west, by the self-same winds that blow. Tis the set of the sail and not the gale, that determines the way they go. Like the waves of the sea or the winds of fate, as we voyage along through life, Tis the set of the soul that determines the goal, and not the calm or the strife.”
A young boy was asked if he was happy. He said, “No, I won’t be happy until I’ve graduated from high school and gone to college.” He was then asked in college if he was happy and he said, “No, I won’t be happy until I’ve graduated from college and secured a good job.” After he had secured a good job he was asked again if he was happy. He said, “No, I won’t be happy until I get married and have a family.” After he had a family he was asked again if he was happy. He said, “No, I won’t be happy until I’m retired.” You see, he was never going to be happy. I really believe happiness is a choice.
So, How can we be happy?
We need to have the gratitude attitude!
Colossians 4:2 says, “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.”
Never allow what you don’t have, keep you from being thankful for what you do have.
Complaining just dampens spirits; people full of gloom and despair are not very fun to be around.
Are you a pessimist? It’s probably because you don’t count your blessings.
A great preacher by the name of Willard Tate once spoke of a College class he taught early in the morning. The students came in, and the first thing he told them to do was to take out a piece of paper and write down ten good things that had happened to them that day. They started to complain, “What do you mean? I’ve only been awake for 30 minutes.” He said, “OK, you got up this morning and you were alive. Is that a good thing? Write that down. You opened your eyes and you could see. Is that a good thing? You got out of bed and you could walk. You didn’t have to go down to the river; you turned the tap and you had instant hot water.” You see, it’s not that hard to find ten good things.
You want to be happy? You need to get the gratitude attitude.
I know that many people have experienced much sorrow and heartache in this life. Some seem to have more than their share. There have been times when I have found it hard to find anything to be happy about. But, if you really put your mind to it you will find much to be thankful for. God is good.
Proverbs 17:22 says, "A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones."
Did you know, studies have shown that happy people are generally healthier than unhappy ones, and they have also shown a connection between happiness and longevity?
The word for joy is found over 120 times in the New Testament in its various forms. There must be a reason. Christians should be joyful. Jesus didn’t come to make us miserable; the gospel is good news, not bad news. When Jesus was born the angel said, "I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people" (Luke 2:10).
The shortest verse in the Greek text is not "Jesus wept," but 1 Thess. 5:16, "Rejoice always."
Over the next week or so I would like to share some thoughts on being happy. This is not something I have achieved. It is a great desire of my heart, a goal I am reaching for. Much of what I will write comes from a sermon my husband preached a while ago. He called it, "On Top of the World".
To start off......
Happiness is a Choice
Abraham Lincoln said, "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." And I think that’s right.
My husband told me about an interesting man he read about it. This man was very much uneducated and somehow made it on a national talk show. He stole the show from the MC with his zest and happiness. The MC, recognizing he had lost the show, said, "Sir, how is it you have all this exuberance?" The man answered, "Well, you see it’s this way: each morning I get up and I have two choices, one to be happy and one not to be happy. And I ain’t as dumb as you think; it’s a lot more fun being happy so I choose to be happy."
It sounds so simple!
God's word tells us "rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice" (Phil. 4:4). The second aspect of the "fruit of the Spirit" is "joy" (Gal. 5:22). Joy is commanded and thus, it’s not just an emotion that comes from earthly circumstances that change from hour to hour. It is an attitude (a mind set) more than a feeling.
For most people, happiness is connected to chance. In fact, the root word for happy (hap) means chance. If the sun comes out, then they are happy. If they win the lottery, then they are happy. But not for Christians. Our joy is a deep inward joy that is based on things that are eternal; they do not change and they cannot be taken away from us by the world.
I am an Australian married to an American, currently living in the U.S.A.
Join me as I strive to delight in the moments that make up our days and aim to have a happy family that loves God and serves others.
)
