Being Happy

My sister and I had a conversation about happiness last week. She was telling me that she used to have all kinds of resources but no time to enjoy herself. Now she has lots of time, but no resources. It's always something, isn't it?

During my growing up years I spent most of my time being unhappy. We have a pretty large family, and what happens when you're one of many is that things rarely go your way. I truly thought during that time in my life that I would be happy if things would only go the way I wanted them to. Interestingly, though, even when things did go my way, they never quite lived up to my expectations.

Meeting Christ put an end to my unhappiness. Somehow (it must be the magic of God's work ) happiness came into my life and has pretty much stayed. One thing that growing up in a large family taught me was that though things would rarely go my way, I found that I could enjoy myself even when things went someone else's way.

I don't jump out of bed saying, "I can't wait to _________." That's probably because (as I mentioned above) those things we can't wait to do never satisfy the way we think they will. Usually God has things in mind for the day that keep me interested, busy and challenged until bed time.

In the end, maybe expectations play a large role in whether someone is happy or not. I do not expect ideal circumstances. Shoot, I might even fear circumstances that were too good. But I know that my Heavenly Father has things planned for me that are good - whether I recognize it or not. His plans not only live up to expectations, but they far exceed anything I could ask or imagine.