Happiness And Joy

to you. There's more than one that's perfect for you. I bet start by choosing the flavors that sound most appealing and then experiment in making just the perfect cup of tea. I'm holding my cup of Twinings Tea right here right now. In fact, it's English breakfast, but it's the decalf kind. They have it in Caffea decaff and because it's late at night, I went for the decalf Twining Stea of London is found in my favorite supermarkets, and I'm sure yours look for Twinings Tea of London.

And right now I want to talk about happiness and joy. Happiness and joy. The two kind of sound alike, and a lot of people use the two words interchangeably. But there is, in my mind anyway, a huge difference, a monumentally huge difference between being happy and experiencing happiness and having joy. And I want to talk about that, and uh, and you can. You can decide how you feel about it. I'm not saying this is a fact. I'm not saying I'm right or wrong, but this is this is what

I have determined in my life. Happiness is a feeling of elation, a feeling of goodness, a feeling of um completion when circumstances are right, when things come together in the right way. You feel happy when you wake up and the sun is shining and your backs not hurting, and the kids managed to get out the door for school on time without spilling milk all over the table, and you know your your cat hasn't thrown up on

the floor. You're happy when you go to work and your coworkers are friendly, and your boss compliments you and maybe even gives you a promotion. You're happy. Happiness is something you experience when circumstances or situations come together and you're not stressed or you're not angry, or you're not frustrated. You may feel happiness when some buddy that you care about brings you flowers or leaves you a card, or

calls you or text you to compliment you. These things make you happy, but joy is completely different from happiness. Joy is what you experience even when things don't come together the way you want. Joy is something you experience when you are at peace in your heart with yourself, when you know that you know that you know in the very core of your being, that you have great worth, that you are precious, that you are wonderful, wonderfully made, that you are a creation, and that the one who

created you has a great plan for you. Joy is something you experience when you are at peace with yourself, when you have made amends for your mistakes, your lies, your the times you broke someone's heart, when you've made amends, when you've owned your stuff, and when you are content knowing that each day you are doing the best that you can do to make the world a better place.

You have joy. You wake up with joy. You go to sleep feeling joyful, even when situations are not good, even when they're not perfect, even when the waiter doesn't bring you the right pizza. Even when your car breaks down, the washing machine stops working, the kids put dish so the kind that makes bubbles in the dishwasher and broke

the new dishwasher right after it's out of warranty. Even when those things happen, even when God calls someone you love home, even when God calls your child filed home, you can still experience joy in the midst of your sorrow or your frustration. I know, trust me. I know. Happiness is something we experience based on circumstances or situations. So when those circumstances change or those situations change, our

happiness changes. But joy, joy is something that is everlasting, and even when our circumstances change, we can still experience joy. I know. Like I said, the two words are sometimes interchangeable, and I interchange them all the time. But when when you are searching for happiness. There was a movie several years ago, the Pursuit of Happiness. Loved the movie, but that phrase, the pursuit of happiness. When you are ever in the pursuit of happiness, you're never really satisfied. You

might be temporarily. A lot of people are in the pursuit of happiness. Uh. Professionally, they think, when I get this education, when I finished college, when I get a new job, when I get the right job, when I get a raise at my job, when I get a better boss at my job, when I get my own desk at my job, blah blah blah blah, then they'll be happy, or they are happy temporarily with each improvement,

but then when life changes, they're not happy anymore. A lot of people, a lot of people I know, spend a whole lot of time and energy and money in the pursuit of happiness. We want to be happy, but when you're ever in the pursuit of happiness, you're not really very happy. Some people chase happiness by buying things. They want to buy a new car, they want to buy a better car, a faster car, and then they

complain because they have car payments and no money. A lot of people want a bigger house, a better house, a summer house, a winter house, and they're not happy even after they get whatever it is they were chasing after, because happiness can be very fleeting. But joy, you can have joy even when you don't have the summer house

or the winter house or any house. I have been to West Africa twenty five times, and I have seen people with no houses, a lot of people, hundreds of people, thousands of people with minimal housing, a mud hut, and yet they have joy. They don't have possessions, they don't have new cars, they don't they don't have shoes on their feet, for goodness sakes, and yet they have joy in their hearts. You can have joy regardless of your

circumstances or your situations. You can go into a nursing home and nursing facility and you will meet people who live in the same building, have the same size room, the same nurses, the same doctors that care for them, and some of them will be smiling and laughing, even some with Alzheimer's will be laughing and smiling and carrying on conversation and joy is bubbling out of their spirit. And others are so miserable and their pain is palpable

and overwhelming, and there is no joy. You can choose joy. You can choose to have joy in your life, regardless of your situation, regardless of your marital status, regardless of your housing situation, regardless of your relationships, regardless if you're children are good to you, or drug addicted and driving

you insane. You can still have joy in the midst of those situations if you have a relationship with yourself and the understanding that you are wonderful, and a relationship with the one who made you, and understand how much you are loved, fiercely, loved, completely and totally loved for who you are. I hope you think about that. I hope you choose joy. I mean I want you to be happy. Don't misunderstand. I want you to be happy.

I want you to be thrilled when you get flowers, or get a love note or someone text you, when all the lights turn green at the same time and you're not stuck at red light after red light after red light. I want you to be happy. I want little things to make you happy. But far better than to just be happy in your circumstances is to feel joy and experience joy on a daily basis. Thank you

for letting me share these thoughts with you. You're listening to the lima, so down and less amone with the layer