If You're Happy and You Know It...(Part 1)

Most of us have grown with the familiar tune, "If You're Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands." I have memories of doing this song at Vacation Bible Schools and daycare events when I was little. I always looked forward to the clapping my hands in response to the lyrics. It was easy to say I was happy! There I was, surrounded by my friends, in a place I felt comfortable. I had a family that loved me and was well fed. I had toys and clothes. I was sure that God loved me, no matter what. As we grow older though, what happened to that innocent joy and happiness that was so easy to acknowledge? Did it disappear? Or do the lives we live as we are older block the happiness that we once had easy access to?

So right now, take a moment to imagine the perfect day - a day where everything goes how you want it to. Maybe you wake up and you're not tired. Maybe you don't have to go to school. Maybe it's a day where you have no worries or stresses. Maybe you get to go travel the world and see astonishing sights, or maybe you get to go on a fall hike with your family and friends. Goodness, maybe you even get an unlimited amount of ice cream. Whatever your perfect day is, put yourself in that position and imagine how you feel. Are you content? Are you happy? What else do you feel?

Okay, now wake up. Let's get real: this day that you are imagining is just a dream. It isn't reality. Reality is what you are living right now, and reality can be hard. For some of you, you might be going through a broken relationship, maybe with your friends, a family member or a boyfriend or girlfriend. Others of you may be facing stress, confusion and the helpless feeling of just being lost. Issues in our personal life, in our families, at school and just in our community can drag us down. In the midst of our chaotic lives, we are looking and searching for one thing: to be happy.

We try to make ourselves happy in numerous ways. We wear the latest fashions. We are friends - or sometimes "friends" - with certain people who are "cool" or "popular". We listen to music. We go to certain parties and sometimes try certain things that people say will make us forget about life and help us"let loose". We look for love from a boyfriend or girlfriend. We eat food. We buy the latest technology. We watch movies and TV shows. We fill our lives with so much stuff in an attempt to make ourselves happy, but in the end, does it work?

Many of you reading probably have been trying to satisfy your hunger for happiness in many of the ways I listed above. These things that we are trying, they are what the world tells us will make us happy. Let's evaluate this for a moment. By filling your life with this stuff, are you truly happy? Sure, for the moment while we are doing these things we feel content and filled, but once they pass? Once they pass, we feel empty, like we want more. These things don't fill us and leave us complete. Once they are over, we face reality again. We feel like we have to refill the empty hole in our souls with more stuff that supposedly will make us complete. These things we fill ourselves with don't give us true happiness; they give us pleasure.

I want to take a moment to discuss the difference between "pleasure" and "happiness". By looking only at dictionary definitions of these words, we can begin to see the differences between these words. The Merriam Webster definition of pleasure is "a state of gratification" and "frivolous amusement"; the definition of happiness is "a state of well being and contentment" and "a satisfying experience". Now those definitions might be confusing, so let me explain them more in depth. Pleasure is a feeling that satisfies us - but only for a short amount of time. Once the source of pleasure leaves us, we feel empty, despair and a longing for more. In other words this satisfaction is only temporary. Happiness, on the other hand, fills us. Happiness is a feeling that completely satisfies our hunger for more and we feel content, even after the source of happiness leaves us. So which do you want: pleasure or happiness?

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This post is the first part of a bi-part devotional. The next segment will be up within the next week or so, so stay tuned for how you can begin to find the happiness that you long for.

Blessings,

Emily Silverwing