When my kids were young, oh how they loved a "happy meal" from McDonalds! Well, I got the privilege of introducing my grand-kids to the thrill of the "Happy Meal"! As we sat down at the kitchen table to eat, my grandson reached his little hand over to mine and with a gentle smile and a pat on my hand, exclaimed, "Grandma, I am soooooo happy!" I patted his little hand and a smile crossed my lips, "Aw he is so happy because he is with me." "Oh he is so happy because he has this great big family and feels so loved." And then I had to open my mouth and lose the moment when I asked him why. He set his french fry down and looked directly at me like I was crazy. "Because Grandma, I have a HAPPY meal." It wasn't that the happy meal made him happy, it was because the name told him he WAS happy. I loved his simplistic mind, and today I wanted someone to tell me happiness was as simple as eating a food that was named "happy."
So what's the secret to happiness and whats the difference in being joyful as opposed to happy? I set on a quest to see what God says about it.
Happiness is an emotion that is derived from our external circumstances. Happiness is based upon happenings, meaning things that happen to you. If things happen to go well we have this great feeling of happiness. But if it happens to go bad, our happiness is gone too. We are happy when we get an A on a test. Happy when we get an unexpected check in the mail. We are happy when someone wraps their arms around us and tells us they love us. Feeling happy is a response to something good happening to us. Not so with joy.
Feeling joyful is something that comes from within you and is more consistent. It is manifested by loving who you are, embracing who you are, and accepting how you are. Joyfulness comes from God, it is a hope, a knowing, it is an attitude of the heart.
You can be happy and have joy, but happiness is dependent upon circumstances, joy is not. Here is why. Before Jesus went to Calvary, he said, " These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full." John 15:11. "You will have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you." John 16:20 Jesus went to the cross to make sure joy would be complete. Then Jesus reassures them that no one can take that joy away. This is a permanent possession not a fleeting moment like happiness is. He continues to say that today you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.
The best example I have in my own life is when my brother passed away after a grueling battle with cancer. There was no happiness. I remember saying my last goodbyes, tears streaming down my face. I looked up into the doorway to see my father with tear soaked face, smiling. There was no happiness in that moment. Our hearts were broken. We would miss him. He would never get to see his children graduate, get married and have children of their own. But my dads face was full of joy. Joy because my brother would no longer be tormented with the ravagings of cancer, and he would be received into Heaven where his suffering would be no more. Happiness is not much help in this circumstance but joy is. We know we will see him again and that gives us great joy that no one can take from us. Even though mixed with grief, the joy remains.
My circumstances in my life will not always make me feel happy. I don't want to live my life as a happiness junkie, always looking for my next fleeting dose. Because looking to other people or to other circumstances to make me feel happy is never going to turn out well. God is the only one who can fill my joy bucket. He promises to make my cup full.
My grandson was not too far off the map when he believed he was happy because the food he was eating told him he was. God promises us joy. "You will make known to me the path of life, in your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forever." Psalms 16:11. We too should believe we are full of joy because God said it is so. Let's just call it the "Joyful Meal."