An Overview Of HAPPINESS from On The Other Side of Trying Hard: Healing, Happiness, and Holiness
I typically put a similar statement like this one at the end of most of my blog posts. However, today I’ve included it at the beginning because this post is an overview of Section 2 about Happiness. This is the second of three sections to be included in my manuscript titled On The Other Side of Trying Hard: Healing, Happiness, and...
She Laughed (for goodness’ sake), part 4
A cheerful heart brings a smile to your face; a sad heart makes it hard to get through the day. Proverbs 15:13 The Message The good and bad news about cheerful and sad hearts is they’re infectious. Sometimes we catch our happiness or sadness from what’s going on around us. Sometimes from people we hang out with. Sometimes we recycle our own...
She Laughed (holy humor), part 3
“Wherever there’s laughter, there’s heaven.” Madeleine L'Engle from A Ring of Endless Light: The Austin Family Chronicles L’Engle likely wouldn’t have convinced me about laughter’s holiness except I heard my grandchildren. When their giggles come all the way up from their bellies, it’s heavenly to hear and healing and...
She Laughed (wholesome humor), part 2
“We are, in the comics, the last frontier of good, wholesome family humor and entertainment.” Bil Keane Bil Keane was most known for his newspaper comic The Family Circus. Included in his circle of friends were other wholesomely funny people like author and humorist Erma Bombeck and creator of the Peanuts comic strip Charles M. Schulz. A...
She Laughed (our funny lives), part 1
She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. Proverbs 31:25 NIV This verse from Proverbs 31 in the Bible comes under the manmade heading “The Wife of Noble Character,” so when I saw a post on social media that condensed to “She laughed,” so did I. It instantly moved to the top of my list of favorite...
Happiness Now (the future), part 3
“The future influences the present just as much as the past does.” Friedrich Nietzsche If I ever wondered how the future effected now, these two quotes contained at least part of my answer. “Stop waiting for Friday, for summer, for someone to fall in love with you, for life. Happiness is achieved when you stop waiting for it and make the...
Happiness Now (the present), part 2
“The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet.” James Oppenheim Dear Jesus, help me be where my feet are. Amen Too often, I’m not here, not present in the moment. I’m tossed into the past like Marty McFly in the movie Back to the Future or I’m impatiently waiting for the future (Fridays) like I used...