Thursday, November 6, 2008

C'mon Get Happy


Like any other normal human being, I experience many highs and lows when it comes to emotions. A lot of the time, these high and lows are based on external situations such hitting a deer with my car while driving on 422 (causing anger and annoyance) or being able to spend time with family and friends (causing happiness!). I sometimes forget that there is much more to life than trying to set up or control my external world to make sure that situations foster positive emotions. I try to control my life so much, making sure that nothing negative happens, that I get really frustrated when things don't go my way.


This morning I read an article on the Boundless website...http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0000980.cfm


It talks about how happiness can't be related to external events because no matter how hard you try, bad things are going to happen. And most of the time they are completely out of your control.


What are we to do then? If we can be 100% sure that at least one bad thing will happen to us during our lifetime, what is it that will keep us joyful during those situations? What if our dreams of being successful in a certain area aren't accomplished? What if we lose someone we love or what if we ourselves become sick? What if we never find that person to spend the rest of our lives with? If we continue to try to base our happiness on external situations, what happens when those situations arise that are out of our control?


Being a Christian, I am supposed to find my joy in a completely different place. My joy is supposed to be found in something that will never be affected by external situations. My joy should be eternal because of the fact that I am loved by God.


Easier said than done.


It's hard because I find myself focusing on the things I DON'T have instead of the one thing I DO have and will ALWAYS have and that is my relationship with God and his promises to me, like...
1. I will spend eternity with Him in Heaven
2. He will never ever give me more than I can handle
3. I can become more and more like Him each day (a.k.a - experiencing peace despite difficult situations)


I think that the ultimate goal here is to focus on what I do have instead of what I don't have. To be grateful for every breath I take. To realize that because I chose to believe in what Jesus did for humanity that I am now both privileged and responsible to be used by God to affect eternity in other people's lives.


Yep, big sentence there. CHOSEN by GOD to affect ETERNITY .

Last night I spent some time with God and was able to remember how much I let what I see and hear in this world affect me. Because God isn't someone I can physically see or be with it's sometimes hard to keep my focus on Him. When I lose that focus I let things like hitting that flippin' deer on 422 or being let down by someone I care about, make me depressed and extremely anxious.

God is so much bigger than I can imagine....but having regular reminders of the fact that I am being cared for and watched over by the creator of the world helps me to put the things that get me down, or even devastate me, in perspective.


Side note: I realize I referred to the victim of my minor accident as a "flippin' deer"...possibly causing some of you to think that I do not feel remorse for impailing (maybe even killing...yikes) the poor thing. While I do feel some anger toward the deer for messing up my car, I do feel bad for the little guy/girl (didn't really get a good look at it). Just wanted to make this fact known. ;)


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