God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.
C. S. Lewis
I could not agree with this quote more. With Christ in my life all happiness is brightened and even the strongest of life’s sorrows is weakened by the knowledge that My God shall swallow it all into Himself one day as I worship Him.
Joys divided are increased.
Josiah Gilbert Holland
I am celebrating Lillie-Put’s 900th post today! Hallelujah! Thank you Jesus and thank you readers for your support through these last few years.
Growth itself contains the germ of happiness.
Pearl S. Buck
I am so thankful my son and I share a faith! When we went to Longwood Gardens the other day we took some time to read the Scripture in the park.
Wow! 25% of my happy day journey is finished! That just amazes me!
Happiness is a by-product. You cannot pursue it by itself.
It is true! Happiness is played out in the context of relationships. I am happy I got to go to Longwood Gardens yesterday with my son. This is Joe by the Chimes Tower Waterfall. As nice as it was to go with my son, he had to leave for work about half way through the day. I am very happy that even after he left I was not alone in the garden. My God was with me. He walked with me in the Garden and I was not alone!
He was my shade in the noon day sun.
And just when I was beginning to feel lonely, God sent this little fellow to sit beside me for about five minutes to sing his song.
6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. James 3:6-12 NIV
15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. Ephesians 4:15 NIV
I consider myself a student of life. Lately God has been asking me about the roots of my desire to learn and know things. Honestly there is a part of me that studies things because I like to be right about things…rather, I should say, I like to be correct about things. As God has shown me it is possible to be correct and not be right.
In God’s eyes, at least, right and correct are not necessarily mutually inclusive. For instance I may see clearly and correctly a person’s character as deficient but if I treat that person with scorn or impatience because of it I am not right. I may correctly discern my child needs a rebuke but if I rebuke my child without love, out of a spirit of irritation, I am not right. I may receive a revelation from God’s Word for my church that is doctrinally accurate and therefore correct but if I deliver it without considering who it will effect and how, if I just prepare it as a neat bit of knowledge without a desire to exhort the people to greater grace, well then I am not right no matter how accurate or correct I might be.
We Christians have to accept that we live in a kingdom where how we say things (our attitude) is just as important as what we say. This isn’t about being all nicey-nice but it is about being cognizant of the emotions behind what we say. It is about making sure that those emotions are as in line with our God as our knowledge is. Being correct just isn’t enough anymore. I want to be right before God!
Truly God is good to Israel,
to those whose hearts are pure.
2 But as for me, I almost lost my footing.
My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone.
3 For I envied the proud
when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.
4 They seem to live such painless lives;
their bodies are so healthy and strong.
5 They don’t have troubles like other people;
they’re not plagued with problems like everyone else….
Did I keep my heart pure for nothing?
Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?
14 I get nothing but trouble all day long;
every morning brings me pain….
I realized that my heart was bitter,
and I was all torn up inside.
22 I was so foolish and ignorant—
I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.
23 Yet I still belong to you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
leading me to a glorious destiny.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
I desire you more than anything on earth.
26 My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,
but God remains the strength of my heart;
he is mine forever. Psam 73:1-5, 13,14,21-26
I remember a time in my life when things were not going according to plan (at least not mine). Ministry had dried up. I was looking at being out of work. I was spiritually tired and it seemed everything I had worked so hard for was surely nothing more than a pipe dream. Every step I took seemed to be met with another closed-door.
I remember shaking my fist at Heaven one day and crying out, “You call this a plan? I can do better than this.”
For a number of weeks I tried. I stopped praying. I went my own way. I laid my own plans and doors seemed to open at least a little; But as I considered each I recognized that while these doors might be open they led nowhere. I came to the conclusion David came to thousands of years before me:
“I was so foolish and ignorant—
I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.
23 Yet I still belong to you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
leading me to a glorious destiny.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
I desire you more than anything on earth.”
I discovered without God nothing else matters, because without Him everything is empty and void. Not all the treasure in the world can satisfy or fill that emptiness. BUT…
With God nothing else matters, because my heart is filled and as long as I have Him I can be content.
It comes to this, in life nothing else matters but God. My circumstances are going to change good to bad..bad to good. That is true whether I have God in My life or not. It doesn’t matter. But it doesn’t matter for different reasons. Without God all the good in the world doesn’t matter because it cannot make or keep me truly happy. With God all the bad in the world doesn’t matter because as long as I am focused on Him I am made and kept truly happy.
Isaiah 26:3 says, You will keep in perfect peace
all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
What matters is our focus. If we focus on what’s going on around us rather than God our feet are going to slip. If we focus in on God we will stand firm as though we were wearing the best set of cleats the world or Heaven have to offer. Our health may fail. Our fortunes may wither away. Our friends may become enemies but if we can somehow keep our eyes on the Great I Am He will be our strength. We will stand firm!
I walk along the water’s edge today
To frame the corners of a frayed day played out in time.
I taste the treacle of the honeysuckle
Bloomed too soon and given voice before anything is done.
A gaggle waddles up the banks.
The goslings following chew up the doddle left by know-better elders.
I hear their trumpet calls, “To action!” ,
“Beware!”, and “Hide yourself away!”
A swift turns, flickers above my head
And then is gone; Blended blue weds the rippled mirror.
I see echoes that do not last.
Eternity reveals itself in a flutter of wings skimming, leaving momentary forever trails.
The patient roar of an ancient fall
Kisses walls made by men with spray they meant to dam.
I savor the scent of ancient waters slick with the flavor of pollened grasses
A cinnamon greater than the smell humanity can erase.
The beaver slaps the water’s silence
brings to life my dalliance with the light. Darkness knows.
I feel the wind wrap His cloak about me
A welcome home to a prodigal son.
And somewhere in my sense memory I recall
There is a God.
