Be Happy (by Ashley)

I've been feeling like I need to work on being happy. I wouldn’t say that I’m unhappy, necessarily, just that most days are just average. If I let my days swing one day it’s in the “bad day” category. So I would say 30% of the time I have a “bad day” and 70% of the time I allow myself to have a “blah” day.

It’s something all people have to sort through, not just stay-at-home moms who have screaming kids. This is how the majority of people live their lives, every day is just average.

I have subconsciously assigned “happy” days with activities, “fun things” that happen or we create. It’s the perfect day I’ve been concentrating so hard on. I’ve been so busy learning, trying to give meaning to everything, that my life as a whole is pretty serious.

So. Fun or happiness is not an activity. It’s a state of being.

I’ve been trying to smile more. Just the act of trying to smile more has made me realize that I don’t do it that often. I’m not talking about while I am interacting with my children, playing with them, etc., it’s easy and natural to smile then. I’m talking about while I’m doing the dishes, cleaning up the toys, wiping down a toilet. Everyone would agree those aren’t fun tasks, but that’s no reason not to smile.

I don’t think I need to ‘look for’ the joy in my life. I know exactly what I have to be happy about, it’s written all over this blog, it’s not like I don’t know what I have or I think my life is horrible. I have the “joy” part figured out, for now.

What I want to add to my life is a constant state of being happy.

Happy: feeling or showing pleasure or contentment

Joy: the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires

There is a time and a place for sorrow. Sin causes sorrow, trials are hard to deal with. But what should the rest of life be filled with? Happiness. God commands us to “Be happy.”

I am going to resolve to be happy. Not happiness in retrospect (“today was a good day”), not happiness in activities, but happiness in my day-to-day activities. Happiness in work. Happiness in drudgery. Happiness not as a part of each day, but as a whole. Happiness not in looking for little things, but happiness as WHO. I. AM.

I will be happy.