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Sustained!
If You’re Happy and You Know It…But what
if I’m not?
By Leann Guzman
August 1, 2005
You know those clichés we always hear at church, the ones you could quote even in a drug-induced sleep? Phrases like, “The peace that passes all understanding,” or, “He will provide all of your needs according to His riches in glory,” or “He won’t put more on you than you can bear,” or “The joy of the Lord is my strength.”
Ever so often, God allows things to happen to you to make those phrases come alive and make them more than just a cliché. He makes you live them and makes you realize how deep the truth is behind the words. Then, when you hear the phrase again, it doesn’t sound so trite. You find yourself nodding vigorously and saying “Amen!” at something that before just went in one ear and out the other.
Staying Happy Forever
This year God has set about proving to me that His joy is indeed my strength.
Sure, I’ve heard that phrase a thousand times, and I “knew” it to be true, but I
hadn’t really lived it yet. But this year, I’ve faced trials that have made me
feel like running and made me want to do anything to get out of the place
I’ve been, just so I could feel better. I found myself pursuing happiness
rather than resting in the joy of the Lord. Have you ever been there?
In our society and especially in our generation, we’re taught to pursue happiness. Not only was our country founded on the principle that the pursuit of happiness is equal to the rights of life and liberty, but we are also bombarded with messages to do what makes us happy. Career advice is often given to young people to “Do what makes you happy and the money will follow.” Advertisers lure us with the subliminal message that we’ll be happy if we have their product. Even in Sunday school we’re asked to do various things, like say “Amen,” clap, or stomp our feet (and then all three at the same time), if we’re happy and we know it.
All of this has resulted in the faulty belief that you can have happiness and stay happy. We’re so blessed in this country to have great freedom and not to have to deal with constant death or strife like in some parts of the world. We have so much opportunity to get the job that will fulfill us, the marriage that will complete us, and the stuff we’ve always wanted. And, we believe, once we do these things or have these things, we’ll be happy. We wrongly believe we have a real shot at finding happiness.
Now, before you think I’m being a complete downer and saying no one can ever be happy, let me say this—you can be happy (though happiness is elusive and temporary). The happiness you feel after you get the perfect new job wears off after you realize the people you have to deal with aren’t so great. The elation of being a newlywed fades when your spouse does something or says something to hurt you. So many marriages today end with the phrase, “I’m just not happy anymore.” The feeling you have after getting your new car wears off once the new car smell is gone and it needs its first repair job. So, if you’re still pursuing happiness, you’re going to have to start looking again for something else to fulfill you or someone else to make you happy. Happiness is completely dependent upon the external.
But the joy of the Lord, that’s different. The joy of the Lord comes flooding into your soul when the circumstances around you say you should be hiding under the covers and refusing to come out. The joy of the Lord isn’t based on the temporal, but on the never-changing God who loves us as His children.
Cliché’s No More!
One evening a few weeks ago, as I sat reading a book (which I was using as an
escape mechanism to keep from having what was becoming my regularly scheduled
pity party), the Lord used a paragraph in the book to point out to me my faulty
belief about happiness.
The book, The Prodigal by Beverly Lewis, is Book Four in her Abram’s Daughters series about an Amish family in Pennsylvania Dutch country. I should note here that the circumstances for my ever reading this book were orchestrated by God, because I generally don’t read Christian fiction, and especially not a Christian fiction series, which takes entirely too long to read. The story on why I was reading it is too long to share, but suffice it to say I was almost at the end of Book Four when along came this paragraph which was exactly what I needed to read at exactly the right time. (Funny how that works.) It said:
Through the simple act of faithful living, Leah had learned the most important thing—not to cling to or chase after happiness. What she yearned for now was the heaven-sent joy that carried her through, even in the midst of suffering.
And that’s when I realized that I’ve been chasing happiness. And I’m never going to catch it. Even if I did catch it, it wouldn’t last long. What I long for is the same as the character Leah, that heaven-sent joy that carries me through, no matter what’s happening around me.
It would be great if I could now report that ever since that moment I’ve been overflowing with the joy of the Lord. But that’s not reality. I realized what I’ve been doing wrong, and now I’m still in the process of turning away from seeking happiness. I’m learning to allow the joy of the Lord to be what it’s meant to be in my life—to be what carries me through the suffering. It can do the same for you.
ninetyandnine.com
© 2005, Leann Guzman
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Leann Guzman is ninetyandnine.com’s “Family / Work Issues” columnist. If you have suggestions on topics to explore, email her at Family@ninetyandnine.com.