Happiness

Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. - Abraham Lincoln

It is hard to illustrate happiness. Shining sun? Big smiley face? Happiness is mental - it is within us. There are obvious outward expressions that we connect with happiness - laughter and smiles for example. What about deep abiding happiness? In Philippians, Paul says:

. . .for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

I know that no matter what the circumstances, God is in control. That doesn't mean that I am never angry, never sad, never concerned. It means that underneath those emotions, there is the happiness, the contentment, the knowledge that I can do, be, live because of the One who give me strength - and happiness. Will that underlying happiness spill out into the life of someone else today?