Are you happy?

Although I could post pictures of Azlin every day and be satisfied, this is a blog afterall, so I wanted to share some thoughts with you.

Yesterday my Dad preached a sermon on happiness. It really caught my attention, because it's something I think of so often. I complain often to my husband about the spoiled nature of Americans (no doubt this comes from living in a 3rd world country during my formative years). How we constantly want, want, want and nothing ever seems to be enough. Most of us have no idea what it's like to do without...many of us feel sorry for ourselves when we "think" we are doing without and yet there is always someone else out there that is making it with far less to work with than what we have. Our Pastor always says "You probably aren't getting what you want, because you got what you wanted." Perfectly said. If you really dissect it, our society doesn't know what it really wants. We use the words "I LOVE it" or "I HATE it" with such ease. Everything is to an extreme. Do you ever find yourself pouting because you had to wait an extra 5 minutes in the drive-thru? Or getting frustrated at commercials because you just want to see the next part of the show? How about getting angry at the driver in front of you for not speeding off the white line the instant the light changes to green? Let me ask you...are those extra 3 seconds gonna get you there any faster? I mean really? How many times does someone blow by you on the freeway only to get caught behind another car? Welcome to America...land of competitive greediness. Don't get me wrong, I love our country!!! I thank God that I live in this great land. I just wonder if we are all enjoying the freedoms and exceptions that we all have available to us or if we have become so spoiled that when we're GIVEN something we have the gumption to complain about it if it's not exactly what we wanted. When someone has given you a gift in the past, did you look at them and ask why it wasn't a certain color or price? Of course not! So why do we do that with God and our lives?

One of the explanations my Dad gave was that happiness is fleeting, it is based on circumstances, but that joy is eternal, it comes from God. Yes, circumstances can cover over your joy and even steal it, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. I really needed to hear that. When I think back over my own life, I realize it's so easy to get caught on the roller coaster of life and never even realize it. Sure, it doesn't help that we live in an "all about me" society with a insatiable appetite for "I needs or I wants", but when I stop and put my life into perspective my world looks totally different.

I live an extremely blessed life. I have lived a life full of miracles and full of the grace of God. We have been through so many things, yet here we are. We are still going strong, we have not given up, we just keep plugging away at it. The only way to explain why is that God has been there with us all along the way...whether we chose to acknowledge it or not. So you see, our circumstances and how good or bad they are really do come down to perspective. Let's say you can't afford to pay your light bill...your circumstance certainly seems dire...but what if you compared it to a family with 4 children and the parents both just lost their jobs? Does it change your perspective about how dire your own situation is? It does mine.

I just think that God is bigger than the American dream. In our country, we are raised to strive for it. The house, the cars, the marriage, the kids...and so on. Don't get me wrong, there is no one that wants those things more than me. I just don't want them more than I want God to be glorified in my life. I don't want to spend my life taking and taking and then look back and realize that's all I did was take. Sometimes I find myself waiting on God to give me something I want and I become so frustrated that it seems to be happening all around me. But when I stop and take those moments to reflect on the fact that I'm just thankful to be on this planet being watched over by a God that cares more for me than I do for myself...there is NOTHING that brings me more peace than that.

I've said all this to say to all of us that feel like maybe we aren't getting exactly what we want. God has given you all that you have and will continue to give you all that you truly NEED. It's up to us whether or not we let our circumstances dictate how happy we are or uncover the never-ending joy God has placed on the inside us that is unquenchable. Remember when you were a kid and would get so excited about something and the wait seemed to take forever? Remember the anticipation and excitement that would build over time? I think that is what we've lost. We've lost any opportunity to wait and let the excitement build. Now we can get whatever we want, whenever we want and then when we finally get it we're over it in two seconds. If we could get back to a place of only taking what we need and not filling ourselves to the brim with all the things we want, we might just see exactly how much we have already.

I could gain the whole world and all that's in it, but I refuse to do it at the cost of my soul...