“Happiness is worshipping God with your friends.”
“Happiness is enjoying the glorious weather.”
“Happiness is eating breakfast quesadillas with your roomie to celebrate Saturday.”
If you’re a friend of mine on Facebook, you’ve probably seen these and other “Happiness is …” statements in my status posts from the last couple of weeks. I plan to continue this theme for the duration of September as a reminder of the blessings that are showered on me every day. And they truly are poured out on me on a daily basis. I get to go to the most awesome school on the planet, I already have my dream job (as copy editor), I have a supermom who is always in my corner, and I have absolutely phenomenal friends. That’s the short list — I could fill every page of this Bison issue with the blessings I enjoy, and I still would not have enough room to name them all. I’ll stick to my quotidian Facebook comments for now, though.
This is actually my second time to undertake this project; the first time was in March. I had allowed some events that had taken place at the beginning of the spring semester to weigh me down during February, and by the end of my month-long misery fest I realized that I had decided to be cheerless when there was so much good in life that I was overlooking. I determined to be more positive during the next month, and “Happiness is …” became a major component of my new regimen. This might sound corny, but I was amazed at how finding and sharing one good thing about any given day made the entire day better. Often, I had trouble choosing which blessing to post, and I’m sure I cheated a time or two by posting multiple happinesses in one status. The good things each day, I discovered, far outnumbered and outweighed the bad.
Why am I sharing this with you? Because as God’s people, we are called to have joy. Philippians 4:4 does not say, “Rejoice in the Lord — except when you have too much homework, except when you aren’t getting along with your suitemate, or except when all of the good washers and dryers are taken.” No, it says, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” Although we as humans will doubtlessly experience the full range of emotions, joy should be constantly evident in our lives as God’s elect.
Whatever circumstances you find yourself in, I promise you have been immeasurably blessed. My hope and prayer for you is that you will let that blessing be what shapes your attitude toward today. Furthermore, I hope you will find a way to bless someone else. It’s wonderful how one kind act can lift a person’s spirits. A couple of weeks ago a guy I didn’t know was waiting to get on an elevator, and he gave up his spot so that I could get on; it cheered me up then because my backpack would have toppled me over if I had attempted the stairs, and even now, I still appreciate what he did. Similarly, your good deed or words of affirmation might be exactly the encouragement someone needs to get through his or her day. So invite that guy who sits alone to eat with you in the caf. Tell that girl you love her shoes. Do the dishes for your roommate. And tell people what has brought you joy today. Because happiness is recognizing your own blessings and being a blessing to others.
