happy happy joy joy

so lately i have been pondering about happiness. i guess it comes from trying to distinguish the differences between worldly things and heavenly things. i do consider myself a happy person, probably because on most of my days i do happy things. or that in my older years, i've just LEARNED it's easier to have a cheery outlook than a negative one. i read that the word "happiness" is a derivative of "happening" - meaning it relates to what is going on at the moment, ie circumstances. it sure is true that when things are going MY way, i am happy! and since i tailor my world to be mostly "my way" when i can choose, then MAN! i'm always happy!

but what about joy? can i say i have joy? not related to where i am or what i'm doing or who i'm with? hmmmm. that is a tougher question for me. i know that joy is a fruit of the Spirit of God, and i know i HAVE God in my heart...so really, i should CLAIM my joy in Him more often! when we know God, we have the RIGHT to joy. whether our surroundings are great, or not. because HE Himself is joy. and the promises He makes to us are always for good.

so, i googled to find out how many times joy was found in the bible, i found this definition, which was pretty neat:

Joy is the happy state that results from knowing and serving God. A number of Greek and Hebrew words are used in the Bible to convey the ideas of joy and rejoicing. We have the same situation in English with such nearly synonymous words as joy, happiness, pleasure, delight, gladness, merriment, felicity, and enjoyment. The words joy and rejoice are the words used most often to translate the Hebrew and Greek words into English. Joy is found over 150 times in the Bible. If such words as “joyous” and “joyful” are included, the number comes to over 200. The verb rejoice appears well over 200 times.

Joy is the fruit of a right relation with God. It is not something people can create by their own efforts. The Bible distinguishes joy from pleasure. The Greek word for pleasure is the word from which we get our word hedonism, the philosophy of self-centered pleasure-seeking. Paul referred to false teachers as “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:4).

i like that "joy" is derived from "rejoice." kind of different than "happening" eh? so if joy is related to God, and to rejoicing or celebrating God and our relationship with him, then being happy doesn't seem nearly as good!

whew. so here i am today. not super "happy" because not everything around me is exactly like i wish it was, but joyful because i know that i am in God's good standing, and that He has some awfully good things in store for me.

wishing you a JOY today that is deep down, too!