No I didn’t fall off the face of the earth, I am still
around, I’ve just been a bit busy lately.
Life has a funny way of distracting you with things that sometimes
aren’t all that important.
I’m hopefully going to be putting a lot more effort and time
into this blog this year, you know, with new years resolutions and all. I wouldn’t really call it a resolution, but
it is nice to have a fresh start. So, I
think this is a good time to start paying a little more attention to this
thing. I only really have one resolution
this year. It’s nothing complicated it
is simply to be happy / happier. I
wouldn’t go as far to say that I am not happy right now, but I would like to be
happier. I have spent a pretty good
chunk of my life not being genuinely happy, these past 4 years in particular
have not been the best.
I have met a few people in my short lifetime that are very
happy people, and I am kind of jealous of them.
For me I don’t think that it is so much that I want to be happy but I
want to have joy. I want to be
joyful. It is so easy for me, as I am
sure it is for some of you, to dwell in the negativity of a situation but these
friends I have met find joy even in the suckiest times and its astonishing to
me. I know I shouldn’t but I compare my
life to theirs and can’t help but wonder how my life would be different if I
was more joyful.
For anyone who may be confused on the difference between joy
and happiness I have had it explained to me many times and many ways, so here
is what I have concluded from all that I think.
Joy is being thankful, in a way, for things that are not always the
best; for example: finding joy in a loved ones death. Even though it is a difficult time and there
is mourning going on you find joy in loss because you are able to remember the
amazing life they lived. Happiness is
materialistic, it is being happy, excited, or content in a present moment, but
joy may not come from that moment. So,
when you get $20 you’re happy but that $20 wont really bring you joy, because
for me at least that money is gone just as quick as I found it. Happiness is short turn and joy in long
term. That is how I have come to
understand it.
So this year I want to be more joyful. I want to work on being more outgoing and
finding positive things in a negative day.
It will be hard but I think it’s nice that we get somewhat of a fresh
start every year.
Challenge: Spend a little bit looking at how you’ve grown
over the past year and thank God for the work he has done with you. Then ask him what he wants from you in this
coming year. How does he want to use
you? Then pray that he gives you the
strength and faith to do what he asks of you.
“What I am anxious to see in Christian believers
is a beautiful paradox. I want to see in them the joy of finding God while at
the same time they are blessedly pursuing Him. I want to see in them the great
joy of having God yet always wanting Him.”
- A. W. Tozer
Happy New Year Friends!
