A case for happy

A cheerful heart is good medicine but a broken spirit dries up the bones.

Proverbs 17:22 

If you grew up in the church or know about Christian faith, you’ve probably heard people clarify the difference between joy and happiness. It usually goes something like this. Happiness is temporal. Joy is eternal. Happiness is based on what’s happening, but you can have joy despite your circumstances. I partly agree. Things don’t have to be going that great to still possess a positive attitude and outlook. Here’s a huge point I think this teaching misses though. Joy and happiness are virtually synonymous and, dare I say, it’s God’s will for us to have both!

Now before the Pharisees boo, hiss, and throw tomatoes at the stage, let me explain. It is not solely God’s will for us to be happy. He’s way less interested in us being comfortable and pleased everyday as He is growing us in the character and likeness of His Son. With that said, God is a good Father and He delights in blessing His children. He beams when we sing, dance, laugh, and love, all behaviors more easily done with a cheerful heart. He loves when we recognize His work in our lives and appreciate what’s been given. That’s what brings Him glory. What doesn’t bring Him glory is a bunch of curmudgeonly Christians mean mugging through life talking about the superiority of joy over happiness. No one’s buying it, people. The world certainly isn’t.

I know it’s bleak out there. We see reasons every day to lose faith in humanity. Nevertheless, let’s make it our diligent pursuit to smile big and mean it. Laugh hard at wholesome humor. Crack your own jokes here and there too. Stop to play a little every day. Life is undoubtedly tough, guys, but gritting through it won’t make it any easier. Vow to savor every morsel of righteous goodness you can find. When it comes down to it, happy and healthy go hand in hand. 

Additional References:

Light in a messenger’s eyes brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones.

Proverbs 15:30

A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

Proverbs 14:30

Crap sandwich

Have you ever heard of the crap sandwich? Actually, there’s another word for it, but to avoid anyone becoming offended by the language and missing the valuable lesson, I’ll call it the crap sandwich. This is a concept I first learned when reading Liz Gilbert’s book, Big Magic. She, in turn, got it from writer, Mark Manson. The idea is this: Everything sucks some of the time. In order to get what we want in life, we have to learn to take the bad with the good.

How revolutionary is that? Consider how many of us falsely believe if we’re living our truth, finding our bliss, and sparking our joy, then life will be sunshine and skittles. It’ll be #GoodVibesOnly and #NoBadDays. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Even the biggest dreams of our heart, come with undesirable aspects to them.

For instance, if you want a relationship, you also have to take conflict, misunderstanding, and learning to compromise. If you want a baby, you have to tolerate sleep deprivation, blowout diapers, and the possibility of projectile vomit. If you want to be your own boss, you also have to accept variable pay and financially lean years as you grow your business. If you want to be a world traveler, you put up with flight delays, occasional turbulence, and lost luggage from time to time. Everything has a price. But if you truly want it, you’ll see it as worth it.

Since learning the crap sandwich concept, I find myself mentally saying, crap sandwich, as a means of accepting the unwanted parts of what I asked for. We all have to eat crap from time to time. If you absolutely can’t, then perhaps it’s not something you want badly enough. But when you can take your crap sandwich, throw some hot sauce on it, and eat it with gladness, then you know something’s really worth it. What’s that thing for you? What makes you willing to accept every moment of possible bad for all the overwhelming yumminess of the good? Crap sandwiches are part of life. Start asking for fries with it.