If you read my
To Do Tuesday post you'll remember I had only one item on my list for the week and that was to be happy.
I looked up the word happy just to get a little insight.
Dictionary.com defines happy this way:
happy [hap-ee]
adjective: happier, happiest.
1. delighted, pleased, or glad, as over a particular thing: to
be happy to see a person.
2. characterized by or indicative of pleasure, contentment,
or joy: a happy mood; a happy frame of mind.
3. favored by fortune; fortunate or lucky: a happy, fruitful
land.
4. apt or felicitous, as actions, utterances, or ideas.
Then I looked up synonyms for happy.
Synonyms
1. joyous, joyful, blithe, cheerful, merry, contented, gay,
blissful, satisfied.
2. favorable, propitious; successful, prosperous. See
fortunate.
3. appropriate, fitting, opportune, pertinent.
The single thought that hit me right between my brown eyes was CONTENTMENT. Contentment brings happiness. My lack of happiness was directly related to my lack of contentment.
God has brought me so far from the type of life I grew up in and the circumstances I lived with that I have always found it very easy to be content. Every turn my life has taken since I was born again at 21 has been a step up. Things have consistently gotten better over the last 22 so it's never been a challenge to find contentment.
I've never had a problem with where and what God has given us. I've always been happy to be right where He put us regardless of the grandeur. Contentment has never been a problem until this last month. I realize that my problem hasn't been a lack of things or people that make me "happy" but a lack of contentment with where are lives are right now.
The truth is, everywhere God has ever told us to go, we have went. When He says don't go, we don't. We've done our best to live with a reverent fear of the One who gave us life. So when He says it we try to do it and do it with a good attitude. My problem is that this whole season of my life, God has appointed and I'm resisting His plan. Shame on me! There isn't anything going on right now in our life that should cause me to resist so why am I?
I have fallen prey to an "I want" mentality. As long as we live in "I want-ville" we can never arrive at "Content-burgh". I've been cruising around and burning up precious fuel in "I want-ville" way too long. Whether it's a person (or people in my case) or a thing, staying in "I want-ville" too long is dangerous. Dangerous to us as Christians and dangerous to the abundant life God wants to give us. John 10:10 says:
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and
to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it
more abundantly.
So, for this whole "happy" thing to be possible I must get a firm grip on the big C. Contentment is the key to happiness and it's the one ingredient I've been missing lately. I've stopped and wondered often why I feel depressed when everything in my life seems perfect. I have a more than amazing relationship with the man of my dreams. We have a lovely, comfortable dwelling place. We have a church family that adore us. We have good, faithful friends that are there if and when we need them. We both enjoy great health. We have saved, healthy, smart children. What could possibly be making me sad? A sheer lack of contentment with the season of life that God has given me.
No more! I have identified the culprit in my life. The one that causes most of my downheartedness and I'm finished with it! Dissatisfaction and I are breaking up! I'm finished with it. I'm taking Contentment by the hand and we're going to get coffee. Today, tomorrow and for as long as I trust God, I'm going to be content and by being content I'm going to be HAPPY.
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that
getteth understanding
Proverbs 3:13-18
So I'm joining Lori today for
Thankful Thursday because I'm thankful for those "wake-up" moments God gives us. Those moments when things look a little clearer and make a little more sense. I'm thankful today because God gave me a "wake-up" moment and I woke up.
