Of all peoples or places or nations or times, we live in the best. Think of the incredible benefits of living in America, at this time, in this place:
· We never sleep outside under the stars, unless we want to.
· Our children do not dodge gun fire on their way to school (at least not in North Dakota).
· Husbands are not conscripted into the militia, never to be seen or heard from again.
· The shelves at our favorite grocery stores are loaded...they are never bare.
· On the 17 acres my son-in-law and daughter own, there are no land mines.
· God will never, ever leave us or forsake us. Think on that!
· I can send a letter to the editor haranguing a political candidate and I will not disappear some night into a gulag archipelago.
· We have indoor plumbing.
· If I need my appendix removed, they will use anesthesia. I will not need to drink enough whiskey to pass out!
· Even if I can’t afford legal counsel if arrested, the court will provide me with one. This is very unusual in the entire history of the world.
· You don’t have to unequivocally believe anyone’s particular theology, because you can check it out for yourself in one of the many versions of the Bible you probably have available in your home.
· In all likelihood your home will not be quarantined any time soon because of the bubonic plague. And even it were, we have antibiotics that can treat the disease.
· I have an entire room in my home with bookshelves from floor to ceiling, filled to overflowing, with books of my choosing. No government entity will come some night and burn the whole lot.
· Broken arms and legs can be set by people who know how, with the least amount of pain, and with the best possible outcome. Again, no whiskey needed!
· I can publish my ideas in print, on my blog or over the air waves without fear of economic retaliation.
· I can shower everyday if I wish.
· Our government was designed as a representative constitutional republic. Practically unheard of in the world.
· God has reconciled His children to Himself through the sacrifice of His only Son. I will never have to pay for my sins. God has already made complete payment through Jesus Christ.
· Our children never starve...in fact we are so blessed with bounty that many of our little ones are ‘fussy eaters’. There aren’t any fussy eaters in Darfur, Nigeria, Kenya, North Korea or countless other locations in the world.
· It is very likely that the vast majority of our children will grow into adulthood and will not die from famine, war, or disease.
· I have a dishwasher.
· Most of us have more clothes right now than we could wear out in a life time. Particularly true of the polyester years of the 1970s.
· We have gentle bar soaps that we did not need to make with caustic lye.
· The choices in homeschool curriculum, educational supplies and other materials is almost endless. We get to pick.
· If we want to travel throughout the U.S. we have the freedom to do so...and we do not have show our ‘identification papers’ when we cross state borders.
· Corrective eye lenses can be purchased to meet my needs rather than making do with a pair from Wal-Mart. I can even wear monovision contacts.
· Our nation is crisscrossed with really good roads and we have really good cars and trucks to drive on them...and we can do so without stopping at checkpoints.
· Most of us actually have time for hobbies because we needn’t go to the creek for water, or chop wood for heating and cooking, or hunt game in order to eat.
· We will not need to sell any of our children to beggars or temples because we simply can’t afford to feed them or are in need of the money. Still being done in India.
· I can garden and can my produce for the sheer joy of it. If I wasn’t able to, we would not go hungry.
· We have almost instantaneous communication capabilities. If we move from our family on the East coast to Kansas, we will see them again, write to them, talk with them on the phone, or send daily emails. Not like in many times and places where if you left the home place….you left the home place!
· God has given us His Holy Spirit to teach us, guide us, correct us, and comfort us. WOW!

And if that isn’t enough here are some of the really important reasons from the Scriptures:
· Psalm 127:3&5 ~ Behold children are a heritage from the Lord...happy is the man who fills his quiver with them.
· Psalm 128:2 ~ You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.
· Psalm 144:15 ~ Happy are the people whose God is the Lord!
· Proverbs 3:13-18 ~ Happy is the one who finds wisdom and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than the gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed (happy).
· Proverbs 14:21b ~ ...blessed (happy) is he who is generous to the poor.
· Proverbs 15:13 ~ A glad heart makes a cheerful face…
· Proverbs 15:15b ~ ...the cheerful of heart has a continual feast.
· Proverbs 17:22a ~ A joyful heart is good medicine…
· Proverbs 28:14 ~ Blessed (happy) is the one who fears the Lord always…
· Isaiah 52:7 ~ How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’

Joy and its twin sister, happiness, ought to be the earmarks of God’s children. Of all people, God’s own ought to be filled with inexpressible joy because we are redeemed. No somber, dreary music for me. No long, depressing and joyless diatribes either. The joy of the Lord is my strength.

Yes, there are difficulties and occasionally deep sorrows, but the truth is that we are blessed, we are blessed, we are blessed. I have known abandonment, discouragement, despair. I have felt the barbs of angry words and experienced the loss of a loved one. I know what earthly grief can be like, because I have walked that valley. But I have set my face like a flint and refuse to allow sorrow to overwhelm me. Instead I will dwell on the numberless blessings God has bestowed on me, because I am, indeed, blessed. If you do not consider yourself blessed, you need to fall on your knees before the Sovereign Lord and beg Him to show you how magnanimously He has dealt with you!

I Peter 1:8 states, “Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.”
Elisabeth Elliot in Secure in the Everlasting Arms writes, “Joy is the keynote of the Christian life. It is not something that happens. It is a gift, given to us in the coming of Christ.”

C.S. Lewis wrote, “Joy is the serious business of heaven.”

Fanny Crosby, that great gospel song writer, blind since 6 weeks old due to a doctor’s mistake, could write:
O what a happy soul am I, although I cannot see!
I am resolved that in this world contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy that other people don’t!
To weep and sigh because I’m blind, I cannot and I won’t.

We have ever so many reasons to rejoice, both in this world and because of the world to come. So get busy dancing, and singing and laughing because life is good in America and doubly so as Christians.