Boundless Bliss

This past week I received a text from my Dad, explaining how he had a dream that I was not happy. Because this dream was so strong and being the amazing dad that he is, he decided to follow up with me. I was so touched with this text, really. But than I began to ponder, am I truly happy, what is happiness in general and why do I feel like my generation chases after such a fleeting feeling?

I realized that I could not honestly answer this question. A cup of coffee or glass of wine makes me

happy. When I sit down and write with a candle lit in my office happiness comes. If I spend time with my husband, family and friends, I become happy. But these temporary things are quickly finished. They do not last. So why is our world raising up a generation, who strives after these temporary pleasures? Why do we not strive after something that is everlasting?

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)

Now we often use the words joy and happiness interchangeably.  But I believe there is a difference. According to Merriam Dictionary, happiness is a state of being happy (temporary) and joy is a source or cause of great happiness.  Therefore, if a person does not have joy, he or she cannot be truly happy since joy is the source of happiness. If the Bible says that in God's presence we experience the fullness of joy, than can we truly be happy without God?

And that's where I began to explain to my papa. I am not running after happiness, if happiness comes that is a byproduct of my joy which ultimately comes from the presence of God. Life is often, just simply hard, but the fruit of these hard times is joy. I believe, the longer we follow Jesus the quicker we are to find joy through the difficult times. We strive or put our hope in something that is far beyond us. Joy is alive in my heart, but it is not based upon my worldly circumstances, which is great because if it was than as soon as I lost my job, family, health, culture my joy would be gone with it.

God is good. He is always good. 

Be Loved

As I woke up this morning, made my coffee and began to think and pray about what I should write about on this special day honoring love, I began to think of an area where I seem to struggle the most in. Being loved.

Sounds easy right? I mean you don’t really need to do anything; you just need to simply be. This weakness of mine has been magnified through my marriage. Life has given me moments where I could completely doubt that there is existing love for me in this world from my husband, friends, family, and most importantly God. Now how can that be?

It is not the fact that the love isn’t there, by any means. I have some of the most loving and intentional people around me, not to mention a God, who is love. I believe it is the fact, that I do not allow the time to soak in the love around me.

Yesterday, I had this realization and decided to start making a change to soak in love; to start to appreciate the little moments of pure joy through out the day and make an effort to be loved.

I was taken back by the amount of little moments, where I was overwhelmed with joy, peace, and most importantly love. From sitting in silence and simply being with my husband, to running into my Swiss family at the grocery store and being greeted as if I was a celebrity by my father-in-law, to hearing about an amazing trip my aunt and uncle-in-law had to Guinea, and finally to hosting a welcome party for our neighbors and being so surprised by the amount of people that showed up and as well the relationships that are beginning to develop in our new neighborhood.

Now each of these examples, are nothing extraordinary, but they are simple moments of love given by God. Each day He intervenes in our lives in such powerful and simple ways, but if we do not take the time to be and soak in lives little moments, we can so easily pass up the opportunity of being loved.

Delighted by Joy

On Saturday, my sister-in-laws and I hosted a Baby Shower for my pregnant sister-in-law. We hosted about 20 women at our new apartment. They day went fabulously. It was beautiful weather, the food and drinks were delightful, and it is safe to say that everyone had a pleasant time. It was nice to catch up with friends, but as well meet some new ones in between the duties of hosting.

When I woke up on the day of the Baby Shower, it wasn’t difficult to put my own needs aside and focus on the goal of the day, to put together this party for the guests and of course my sister-in-law. Although I was busy from 6:30 am till 8:30 pm, it was amazing how much joy I had through it all. Towards the end of the day, I asked myself, how could I have so much joy and peace during such a frantic day, where I barely had 10 minutes for me?

The answer lies in two places: expectations and mission. When we wake up with the idea, today is a day to serve others rather than myself. How does the outcome of our day differ? I’ve come to learn, that when I say I am going to serve others, often, I, in tern, end up having a day full of delightful little surprises from those around me.

When we do not expect anything in return, we give no room for disappointment. Joy is the foundation of our day.

When we live with a purpose and a mission during the day, we will enter into a deep peace. Everyday can have a purpose, not only when we host a party, give a presentation, help another person out, etc. I believe, when we follow Jesus each day, our purpose on this earth is to simply be love. However that may look in our lives—through the big and small things.

Mission is essential to a healthy organism and organization, when we lose sight of our mission, we lose sight of our purpose. Without a purpose, we become more susceptible to lose sight of hope and without hope, well, we are hopeless.

So I encourage you all to reflect on what your mission is today? Where are areas in our lives where unwise expectations may lie? How can we begin to start living more purposefully in our day to day lives?