What is Happiness?

It's coming around to my favorite season of the year again.  

The trees are tinged with the faintest bit of their dying colors, 

and the golden haze of fading summer hangs low in the air.  

Autumn always brings out the sentimental, contemplative side of me.  I feel like, in some ways, 

life slows down, and there's more time...time to think, time to reflect, time to wonder.  

After the fun craziness of summer, life falls back into a routine, with more peaceful evenings to light 

a candle and read a book, or bake a batch of cookies, or have coffee with a friend.

And lately, I've been feeling a sense of urgency that I learn how to savor these moments.

To wake up to the life that God has for me right now...to today, which I so often overlook in my 

longing for what tomorrow might hold.  

To be honest, this autumn season holds a lot of unknowns for me...the particulars of life get a little kinked-up and scary sometimes, you know?  But there is one certainty I can lay hold of, and that is the fact that my God is good...that I am to give thanks in all things and that I have 

been given everything I need for my life and happiness today.

Today!  That means right now...in this moment, I can rest in the goodness of my Father.  

That is happiness.

It doesn't make the hardness of life go away...remember, "in this life, you will have tribulation?" 

But it helps me realize that life is happening now...not tomorrow, not next year - 

when my dream for this or that finally happens.  

It's now...life is happening now.  So enjoy it for what He made it to be.

Too often, I feel like I'm racing, whirling through life, stressing about what God wants me to do,

where He wants me to be, and why isn't He answering my prayers the way I want Him to?

When all along He is standing there with His arms reached out, wanting me to slow down, to stop rushing ahead of Him, and enjoy what He's given me today. Like,

a gorgeous sunrise on a frosty fall morning...

the smell of woodsmoke drifting through the air...

the softness of a kitten's fur and the blueness of the sky reflected in her eyes...

a little girl's giggle and the feel of her arms around my neck when she hugs me...

a few moments to spend in peaceful solitude with quiet music and happy thoughts...

That is what happiness is to me.  To understand that each moment is a gift, and to know that 

you are savoring each of them to the fullest possible extent.

To rest in the fact that He holds tomorrow, and it's safe to let tomorrow take care of it's own worries.

So, I've been learning.  I have a long way to go, for sure. 

But I'm beginning to see that each day is beautiful. 

Each day is one that I will never have again, slipping through my hands

like sand through an hourglass.

Enjoy life.  Embrace all that it holds for you in this moment.  

I've been so convicted of this lately...God seems to be reinforcing it over and over again to me,

through various people and resources that I've come across.

One of them is a blog I recently found - the author put together a short video that is so worth the four minutes it takes to watch.  It made me think, and was the inspiration behind a lot of this blog post.

I needed to put into words this truth for myself.  

And while it doesn't solve the problems of what to do or where to go or who to be, 

it does help me remember that I don't have to wait for life to start until all my dreams come true.

Because it never would.

Rather, much of life consists of little moments, little gifts.

So rest in Him, and open your eyes, and live.

Blessings,

Rachel Elisabeth