Joy does not equal happiness
Thats it I give up I am a crier……….
when I was a kid and was upset about something my dad used to say “we dont cry in this house be brave chin up” so I have spent much of my 33 years trying not to cry. I dont think he was being mean I think that he just felt that if you cry then you are letting the thing you were sad about affect you. The thing is that only serves to make me feel worse. When I try not to be upset about something it just ends up 100 times bigger in my head.
Over the past two years I have learnt that there is nothing wrong with having a good old cry and in many ways I feel better when I have. For a while I was visiting a psychologist and she encouraged me to have a crying teddy, whom I would cuddle and share my sadness with. I didn’t go that far but I appreciate her point.
As a mother I cry often as my kids move out of one stage and into another. I used to be embarrassed about this but not anymore it is just part of who I am
Case in point my sister in law took some photos of my nine year old (see them here njoy the moment) I cried like a baby , not because I didn’t like the pics but because I cant believe she is sooo grown up and soooo beautiful.
As a baby Christian I was taught that to cry and feel sad is sin that you must always feel “joy” but I now see that what they saw as joy is happiness and they are two completely different things. Jesus wept after all.
Gods joy to me is that knowing I have that even when I dont feel happy he is right there with a better plan, a good way and he can see the end. That his work in my life is complete even when I can not see the beginning of it. It is NOT warm fuzzies or a sense of happiness as these are only fleeting. JOY in a god sense is a gift from him and something that is eternal and not dependant on how I actually feel. Do I understand what I just wrote. Not really but is is great to know that I dont have to put on my “christian face and smile when all I want to do is weep.
RSS Trackback URL 17. December 2008 (15:20)Filed under: Uncategorized
