Happiness . . .
Happiness is an emotion in action, a described feeling; and it can be dissolved quickly by many forms of dilution. Why have I placed such a claim on it?
If on a particular morning when you arise, your mate surprises you with a beautiful bouquet of flowers or you are surprised with a great pair of sport shoes, just the ones that you feel will put your game over the top; and as a result of this happening, you are brought to such a smile and delightfulness, you know, you’re happy! Now you leave home for your morning commute to work with this “happy feeling”, and upon arrival, you get a telephone call. The person on the other end of the line informs you that the suit or dress you were planning to wear for that special occasion tonight was scorched beyond repair by one of the employees at the cleaners.
As you are hanging up the telephone in total disbelief, anger, and despair, your superior at work walks into your office and announces that he has selected you, out of ten other candidates, for a promotion that will take effect immediately. “Wow!” you say to yourself and here comes the delight again; you’re happy! Shortly thereafter, you go outside the office building with the intent to go meet a few friends for a lunch celebration, and as you approach your vehicle, you notice that two of your tires are flat, which forces you to seriously scramble your brain for a quick solution to resolve this new dilemma. What a letdown!
Your happiness has been repeatedly granted and then sizzled away from the reality of daily living over the course of your morning. From the start of your day only several hours have passed, and yet, in those hours, your happiness has ascended then descended, soared then landed, climbed then dropped, ascended and then descended again. Happiness seems to have revealed to you that it is momentous, that it is not lasting; and that its duration is but the prey of the next “sensed” dampening event.
This sizzling away of these gratifying moments of happiness prompts us to consider that we need something much deeper in us that is in fact lasting. If our earthly stay is going to be satisfying, we need a source that is way beyond the surface, one that secures us from all the whims of the senses we encounter from ourselves, as well as from others.
Have you ever noticed that when you try to heavily water the grass in your yard, the water will only go so far below the surface, and after that it begins to drain out in another part of the yard? It will overflow even though we know that the Earth has many layers below the surface of which it seems the water would go?
The lawn can only take its care in doses in order to sustain its healthiness. A lawn is quite vulnerable and capable of going rapidly to pot! It requires consistent upkeep to maintain a healthy, vivid green, appearance and this observation is what brought on the concept and popularity of sprinkler systems. If a lawn does not receive this method of care, all of your diligent past efforts of maintenance will not be reflected in the eyes of an outsider who looks upon your grass. It can quickly be referred to as a “has been” even though it once was known as the neighborhood lawn of delight.
Our happiness sits right below the surface as well. Its exit can be just as immediately as its entrance; and in the end, we tend to ask ourselves, “Why do people quite frequently refer to or speak of happiness in a past tense form? You have heard it before. They say “she was so happy” or “they had such a happy family” or “they were once so happy to go there and so on. Now, after all, doesn’t it seem that happiness is really nothing more than a temporal sensation at a moment in time?
Overcoming the Rule of the Senses of the Body . . .
There is yet another expression of fulfillment besides happiness. It is a place of which you can arrive at. It is also a source as well as a condition. It is a gift that comes from true understanding, and a promise that is based on that understanding. It is a covenant as a result of that promise. It is the resulted place of having thrived and survived the atrocities of trials, tribulations and tests. Oh yes, true orchestrated and purposeful testing to the flesh above and beyond the many other opposing lower conditions.
This state of mind and state of spirit is joy! . You may have heard or read someone say “The joy of the Lord . . .” in expressing it or referring to it. Since it has now been brought to your direct attention, you might begin to ask yourself, “How do we obtain joy?”
In our lives, to search for joy! is a very viable goal. To intentionally search for a place of unwavering peace within ourselves is attainable. It is a very living place. To process oneself to a place in self that is of an eternal truth, is very comprehensive. Joy! is satiable, for it doesn’t relocate on you in the stream of things. In order to possess it, you have to become a true extension of it.
To secure joy!, it seems that a yielded being must be lead down the path for overcoming the senses of the body. We need to consider being taught to receive things based on truth rather than on an analysis rooted in self-impulses. These impulses are the workings of the senses. They house emotionalism, of which generally extends to feelings. These feelings are about anything and everything that occurs in a life, as well as in the world, justified or not, and they heavily influence our responses.
The bodily senses tend to be overly “free spirit” without any restraint. We were given the right to be in control of them, and they do not have free reign just because they are in existence. The senses attempt, by deliberately urging us, to take on a non-boundary disposition as a by-product of our sin seed nature. Yes, they tend to want to operate on a “do at my own will” attitude, which only coheres us into waters way over our heads if we follow them without thought. We must individually bring our own senses to the maturity of the truth that they exist out of specific purposes.
Since there are options for receiving joy!, you have to roam around in a campaign to have a chance to possess it. You can posture yourself for the reception of it, and then take on its form in the right timing. The Spiritual Potter can speed things up to formulate you to it; he can bring yielded souls rapidly to it with His intrinsic knowledge of mankind. Once it is within you, it will display itself; and not only to others, but to you as well, meaning that no outside confirmation will be required.
Joy! places stoppers at their proper points during life, allowing a person unusual understanding, thereby helping them stay focused on the idea that “and this too shall pass”. It stabilizes the inner man during storms and bumps and humps, and dips in the road along life’s way, so that in the end, one resembles more of a “whole” person rather than the aftermath of an emotional cyclone. It allows you to remain somewhat sheltered from all of Earth’s disturbing events brought about by man during those rocky times, whether they are seen as the good or the not so good. It maintains, to and through eternity, the stability of that genuine smile that is a natural offspring that comes with the possession of joy!.
Since our lives are simply connected by default, fruitful earthly living comes also from intentional consideration for others. Universal law has not given us a choice in this particular matter, so accepting our basic grounds of susceptibility to each other’s major or trivial actions should be the first priority. We must remember that with such connected boundaries before us, how could we possibly tell what will happen in our worlds from one hour to the next? How can we truthfully control this?
To live is to consciously or unconsciously participate in other’s lives. If the farmer’s blueberry crops are destroyed by elements or animals, we are affected. The blueberry pie that you make of which your co-workers rave so profusely about, and insist that you bring for the potluck at work tomorrow, is at risk. Their request cannot be met as your visit to the local market to select the sweetest and plumpest blueberries for it, came up short. You found the shelf bare of any blueberries because that farmer’s crops mentioned above is your local market’s supplier, and as a result of his loss, there was nothing fit to deliver to the market.
Whatever is going on in someone else’s neck of the woods should always be of concern in our private worlds as well. That someone that I am speaking of is going to go into the streets of this world and they will be a participant, in some form or fashion, in what is out there before them. Just take a look within the territories of your own personal household, well that is if any humans or animals are there; and each occupant or non-occupant there can take a toll on things. Even if one just flashes a smile in our direction on the street, we are tied to that.
Joy! is a state of getting past the rule of your senses as the leader in your life, and overcoming their “out of order” position of leadership. It is learning to operate not merely on likes, dislikes, smells, odors, feels, emotions, and tears; but yet knowing and believing that all which seems unbearable, shall in time be a thing of the past with life changing results, and there is no need to sink into the sea of despair as we await the arising of the morning sun.
Joy! keeps the same kaleidoscope before your eyes during these times so that the beautiful colors and movements need not change or dissipate as you enter the multiple and different atmospheres of Earth’s daily holdings. With joy!, you can make it clearly known within the barriers of your mind and self, that you no longer practice emotional behavior that is grounded in a shallow interpretation of the despicable actions forced upon you; but yet instead during these times, letting deep understanding keep you in the freedom of the wonderful place of joy!.
Through unprecedented understanding, the observations of the senses will now be interpreted as enchanted opportunities to further experience the beauty of true peace and comfort within – joy! You will find it a pleasure to continue to go deeper down beyond the layers of your existing place of joy! baring more of what should really “naturally” happen when the world’s harden receptacles appear at your door and want to rule.
Happiness is the Adversary’s counterfeit of the joy! of the Lord. It takes a lot of really sharp tricks to hold an audience spell bound until the end of a magic show, especially if you are trying to claim credit. Our permanent status after we depart Earth, holds much interest to the Adversary. He does not stop short of using all that is available to him, whether by theft or by what is freely and outwardly offered to him by us, to carry out his plans of darkness in our lives.
Search for joy! — go there. In the land of joy! lies the lasting peace you have so longed for throughout the years. The senses of the body undoubtedly need much maturing, and as with their immature role in happiness, it’s not necessary to suffer loss again and again; for joy! lies way below the surface of the flowing of the water.
To overcome the senses, is to have set the stage to receive and possess joy! To live in joy! is to be declared the true winner of the spiritual battle; indeed, the holding of a much higher position than a moment of happiness.
Praise the Lord for His joy!
TP
In His word: Nehemiah 8:10; 2 Corinthians 3:17
Copyright 2016 Karleen Hammerli. All rights reserved. This writing is not intended to provide counseling advice nor replace recommendations by professionals. This writing, as a part of Tarragon Pensée, may not be reproduced for commercial use in whole or in part without expressed written permission. First published October 21, 2015.