I keep hearing the phrase “I just want to be happy!” I’ve heard it and heard it and clearly have no words of wisdom to offer back. I can’t provide anyone’s happiness, I can’t make you happy let alone make myself happy. This phrase has hit me in a very peculiar way today…

I stand in the kitchen washing dishes and thinking aloud while praying in between my thoughts that are racing around wildly. I come to this realization that you can’t strive for happiness if you aren’t choosing to live in the happiness of today. You can hope and wish that the future will provide you happiness and your life will be full of happiness but in all reality, are you choosing to be happy in the present? These were my thoughts as I unloaded the dishwasher realizing most the dishes had not come clean. What does this mean for the person who simply wants to be happy? What does this look like while your mother-in-law is dying of cancer? What does this look like in the chaos of the day chasing tiny tots around? What does this look like in an unhappy marriage? What does this look like when finances simply aren’t there? Many of us relate to one of these issues, if not more.

I don’t have all the answers, I don’t have most the answers and in fact, lets be completely honest, I have NO answers. All I know is that I can’t wish happiness upon my future if I can’t accept the happiness of the day. Everyday, no matter how bad it is, has something to rejoice about. I can tell you this honestly as the last three years has been brutal. My husband and I have been in the fire in ALL aspects of life; marriage, job, kids, health, family, finances, friendships, house problems, faith and personal growth. Life is NOT easy and was never promised to be easy, yet we constantly pry for happiness without being thankful for the moment.

Although these past three years have been extremely difficult I still have a lot to be thankful for. My family is healthy, my marriage is still together, my son is an amazing boy, we have a job, we have finances, we have a house, we have one another, we have cars to drive and food to eat. These are only a few things but life can’t proceed without the basics; family and friends. If you have the basics, begin there.

One day, maybe our eyes will be opened to the pain Christ has spared us from. Yup, even in hardship I know God has spared us from even greater pain that the enemy longs to place upon me and my family. My husband said it today “we hit the edge of the cliff thinking there’s no where else to turn, you must jump. Just as you recognize that there is nothing left, God releases a little bit of hope. Enough to get you through the next minute, hour, and day. Just when life seems completely hopeless, God gives that small ray of hope.”

Thanks to theminimalist.com

Unfortunately, sin and evil are apart of this world which in turn brings about heartache and pain. Watching my mother-in-law battle for her life against the raging war of cancer has been extremely difficult. Her life is hanging on by a thread and yet she still smiles, she still jokes, and she still has positive talk flow from her lips. I don’t know how she does it! I do know God is faithful and for those watching her battle and fight everyday, I know God is working in our lives as well. What this looks like is incredibly unknown, but there are glimpses of hope, there are moments of happiness and there are moments of peace. So how then, do we obtain happiness when life is falling apart around us?

Dear friends, God is working and he is working in the lives of each of us on so many different levels. For example, I watch my broken husband hang on to the current relationship he has with his mother while years past seem wasted. Battling his mind of hurt and anger from heartache in his childhood that haunts him today while he faces his mom sick in bed. The compassion he feels for her is incredible, the sadness overflows his soul, yet years of pain still reside deep within. “I just want to be happy!” the phrase comes up again. How do people be happy with a life that is so hard and painful? Friends, Christ didn’t promise us happiness, he promised us hope and future! What more than can we ask for? We have our hope and happiness at our fingertips yet we hang extremely loosely as the questions flood our mind; fear and doubt set in. We don’t need all the answers we need to grasp tightly to the hope  we have and live our lives full of the promises God has already given. These past three years have been beyond what I could ever imagine yet I still find myself learning that Christ is who He says he is. I have nothing to fear! Although I know this concept, I battle it everyday.

So, my dear friends, if you want the magic key to happiness my answer to you all is simply to live in the happiness of what you have been given today no matter the circumstances. Do NOT dwell on the pain, the heartache or the past! Live today with the glass half full rather than craving a future full of happiness, it’s here and ready for you today, not later. I tell you this from experience while I still learn each day to cling to the moments I am given. It’s not easy but it is possible.

Moment of Truth: Live in the now, rejoice in what you have!