Why Be Happy When I can NOT Be?

I think that people have a misconstrued view of happiness.
people who are actually happy- whats up with them? Everyone has their own story, and I know that sometimes it's hard not to compare your story to someone else's you know- even Edgar Allen Poe had a longstanding rivalry with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (a poet) back in the day. Sometimes the people who are unhappy take out that unhappiness on those who are happy. But hold on a just a second, that's a whole lot of happy and unhappiness going on right there- so what IS the definition of happy?

HAPPY: 
1. delighted, pleased, or glad, as over a particular thing.

2. characterized by or indicative of pleasure, contentment, or joy 

So there you have it folks, happiness in a nutshell, right? Every single person on this revolving planet has different difficulties, tragedies, sorrows, hardships, challenges and joys. but we all have one thing, life. referring back to the definition of happy- the first example is joy over a particular thing- life is a thing. you can't argue that fact. if your alive you have something to be happy, pleased, glad and delighted about. the definition doesn't say: 

"Happy- being characterized by joy and gladness but only if your past and present circumstances allow you to be and you have a great life which enables you to feel so." 

      no one would be happy if that's what happiness was, thank the Lord that it isn't! What some people don't seem to realize is that it's much harder to have a good attitude and be happy than it is to be depressed all the time. Gee, I just get depressed when I don't feel like I have the energy to do anything else. That sounds pretty lazy right? believe me I know. But before you start getting frustrated about me not knowing what I'm talking about- I also know this isn't the case for everyone. Some people have things going on in their lives that it seems no one should ever have to go through, and those people have reason to be depressed all the time (or most of the time)... Um, no. sorry, maybe that sounds like the right answer for a lot of people today but it's not the truth, it would be a lot EASIER if it were, but it's not. 

      Look, my mom and dad aren't divorced, I love my brothers and sisters (though we all go through rough patches- okay, sometimes cactus-like patches, but still) and I have friends that I would truly die for, not just as a figure of speech. I've still been through plenty, I've cried myself to sleep sometimes, I've had to leave the house just to get away from what was going on inside, I've felt like screaming or kicking something, I've felt helpless and many more things. But you know what differs between two people who go through hard things and come out either woebegone or actually happy? the choice TO BE HAPPY. Happiness doesn't just come skipping up the road and decide to make it's home inside you- ppphhht. Its a decision, a really, really,really,very, incredibly important choice. No one controls it but you. Not the Jerks, not the pessimists, not the hurt, not the gossipers, not the judgmentals, not physical or psychological things,not your girlfriend/boyfriend, not the betrayers, not your parents, not where you are in life, not how many times you feel like giving up,not even other happy people, or anything else that comes to mind. you do. That makes it a lot harder now doesn't it? though some people would tell you otherwise, when we are unhappy we use these exact things as crutches to be such. Its your happiness, so don't blame other people's sinfulness or contentedness with the state of it. 
      Like anything in life, it comes with time. a priceless treasure doesn't happen over night, it happens with time. Happiness is a treasure. NO ONE is happy all year: 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, 8,765 hours, 525,949 minutes, 31,536,000 seconds. Just try being happy on a hard day- you know how hard it is. But nothing worth having comes easily. I'm not just talking about the happiness that shows, but the happiness that is a part of who you are. because, lets face it, it's not as if while our parents are fighting or our friends are hurting us we walk around with a smile on our face all happy. No, I'm also talking about the kind that is still there while going through the trials we all face. The kind that still gives us hope and helps carry us through those times of loneliness- if you keep reading, I'll tell you how you can have this kind of hapiness. 
      Other then some other things going on in my life, here's the quote that sparked this blog post: 

"I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing."

-Agatha Christie 

      Anyone and everyone is capable of doing something great in this world, I don't care what anyone else has told you out of seeming good-will or out of anger. The Greatest things done are made up of the smallest of things. A war isn't won by an army, it's won by individual, courageous soldiers that chose to be a part of something greater than themselves or their past. I know we are kinda getting onto a different subject, but how would any of the accomplishments that helped change the world happen, if everyone involved decided to just get bogged down in the sorrows of their life and never reach outside of that? So you see, Happiness isn't just what one feels but what one DOES and how one LIVES.  

      And outside of knowing Jesus Christ, this isn't possible. You can have the perfect life, or maybe not, and just try to be happy- but something will always be missing. That hole you feel in your very being? that can't be filled with the plastic, fragile, worldly happiness. It can only be filled with the happiness that comes with a new heart and soul that lives, breaths and longs to do everything to the glory of the one who changed it. This entire post is useless without the working of the Holy King, GOD. So, if you want the kind of happiness that never leaves you, even in the times when the world seems to shrink in on you and the darkness of the evil in this life caves in on top of you: pick up your Bible, drop to your knees and HE will save you. God will give you the Happiness you seek, when you seek HIM.  

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." 

-John 16:33

"It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness."-Charles Spurgeon 

"If you’re going through hell, keep going."

-Winston Churchill 

"The three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for."

-Addison 

"Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open." 

 ~John Barrymore

New Year? No Fear.

You know that feeling you sometimes get at the end of a day, the feeling that wells up inside of you of either uselessness, inadequacy or just pure helplessness? Well, they all have one thing in common: fear. A fear of not being needed. A fear of not ever being 'good enough'. A fear of not knowing what to do next. I myself have begun struggling with these three things more in the past few months just because of where I am in life. High school's no walk in the park, even more so when the end seems to be looming up before me. Some people view me as having it all together, that I'm some sort of superior person with my few talents and blessed life. This assumption makes me laugh while in my mind I'm saying 'yeah right! if you only knew-'. It's true that I have been blessed beyond my imagination by my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but it also says in His word,

"...For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required..."(Luke 12:48)

no pressure right? Not that God is saying he doesn't expect great things from those who have less, but if He has blessed me with more than just one talent I should put it to good use to further His kingdom. The big question though is, HOW? Which right now is the killer for me because I have no idea. I'm the kind of person who likes to always know what is going on around me, I like to know where everyone is going and when, what we're going to have for dinner, what I will do with a friend. And we wont always know what God's plan for our life is, or understand how current circumstances will work into those plans. Oh, I have my own dreams and aspirations, sure, but giving those up to God whom I can't see and trusting Him with my future? that's hard for me, particularly since I love sight. I love to visualize and study things, obviously this is why I greatly enjoy photography.

"There are many plans in a man's heart, nevertheless the LORD'S council- that will stand."- Prov. 19:20

I have read this certain verse multiple times, but just recently I began to see another side of it as well. It's saying that no matter what you do or plan on doing it's all part of His ultimate plan for your life; when all is said and done it's still God's will that will come to pass. To me at least, this is a huge comfort. I don't have to know where my life will go after I graduate, I don't have to know right this minute what and if I will attend collage. God planned all of that long before I was born and there is nothing I can or wont do that will hinder it.

I'm good at quite a few things. I'm not bragging, I'm just repeating in general what people have commended me on. I can run relatively fast, write semi-intriguing stories, make diverting crafts, take (sometimes) stimulating pictures and draw well enough as to know what it is. But to what ends? So what? does any of that have lasting value? Honestly, will it really matter in the end that I made a cool graham-cracker house last year? I'm inclined to say no. But nonetheless I know God has a reason for me doing and using these skills. But who said, being somewhat naturally good at something is easy? Whether your really good at math and called a brainiac, good in band and called a geek, school and called a nerd, etc.

"...All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." -Romans 8:28

Every single person has strengths AND weaknesses at certain things in life. Don't ever feel like you are at the bottom-of-the-barrel (so to speak). I'm terrible at math or algebra or whatever you want to call it, I have acquired a bleak and hateful view of it and that has hampered whatever little bit of interest i found in it at first. It doesn't matter exactly what it is you're not good at, if you start dwelling on everything you can't do you are just headed for indifference and bitterness at what talents you DO possess and maybe lose sight of them altogether. This is perfectly symbolized in Matthew 25:21-28:

"He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ ²³ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

But then, see what happens to the next servant:

“Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest."

The servant didn't use the talent for anything of any use. (yes they are talking in terms of money or 'talents' but the image painted here is about the gifts that God has given you to utilize for His glory) So don't bury your own talents under a mountain of inadequacy or bitterness that you don't have someone else's talents. God gave each of us the talents that he wanted us to have, he didn't just throw them around, they are specially chosen. Even if you aren't really sure what they are exactly, that just means there is more room for God to put into you whatever he pleases WHEN He pleases.

When it seems like all the 'good' you do has no lasting meaning just remember- God can work with what we deem uselessness and turn it into something life-changing for someone else. The kicker? we probably wont even know when this happens, but that's the beauty of how God works. Besides it's not of our own volition that we do anything slightly good, its only though Him. If we live life to the fullest THROUGH GOD ALONE, in the end, that's all that will matter.