Simply Happy

Yes, I am happy today. I am happy about the beautiful weather outside. I am happy about the fact that my husband is getting a holiday on Monday, so we get to enjoy a three-day weekend together. I am happy that my husband took me on a coffee date last night and that the Lord encouraged us both through conversation--reflecting over the things He has done for us in the past and anticipating things He will do in the future. I'm happy to know the Lord, to be able to talk with Him throughout the day, to know that He is good and merciful and in control of all things.

Sometimes when I get like this, I wonder how long it will last. As they say, "What goes up must come down." But what a cynical way to view life! Shouldn't we be allowed to be simply happy sometimes? Aren't there things to be happy about? Shouldn't God's people be among the happiest?

I have been reading for my Biblical counseling class recently about "simple pleasures" - the ability to enjoy things because we are created in the image of God, and He has given us many things to enjoy! However, as sin affects everything else in life, it also adversely affects our ability to take the right kinds of pleasure in the right kinds of things. Even the enjoyment of good things is tainted by sin when we let that pleasure drive us and become the chief desire of our hearts and lives.

But, just as sin has corrupted all aspects of life, Jesus Christ is redeeming all aspects of the lives of those who belong to Him. "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age" (Titus 2:11-12).

So, we can be happy! We can live joyfully. We can enjoy the beauty of the world God has created. We can enjoy the comforts of the relationships He gives us. We can enjoy a cup of coffee or a dish of ice cream or an invigorating run or an enthralling book. We can enjoy those things as part of enjoying the Creator of all things.

We, too, can exclaim, "Blessed [or happy] are the people to whom such blessings fall! Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD!" (Psalm 144:15).