Real Happiness

Our dog Fiver and I have a routine that we do every morning.  After we go for our morning jaunt in the backyard, I give him his breakfast and then gather my vitamins and pour myself the morning hot cup of Java.  From there I return to the dining room where Piper is happily sitting having just finished her breakfast.  I take a moment to enjoy that first sip of coffee for the day and enjoy the flavor, the warmth and the satisfaction it gives me.  Then it begins… Nonchalantly I walk into the living room where the pooch is usually standing on the area rug in front of the couch doing his daily rub his face after breakfast into the carpet routine.  I pretend that I am not really noticing his presence, while at the same time I search the room for his favorite squeaker toy.

Once I spot it I pounce on it and begin to squeeze it.  Well, Fiver goes absolutely bonkers at this point!  He immediately runs to the corner between the living room and dining room and waits for me to toss the red cloth toy.  Then I let it fly into the dining room so that Piper can observe the activity while yelling out “Go get it!”  That’s when it gets funny, because it happens every single day… Fiver gets so excited about retrieving the toy that his back feet literally spin on the hardwood floors as he attempts to get some traction!

Just like the time I’ve told about when Piper was driving her Mom’s new 1969 Camaro SS 396 out of the high school parking lot when I passed by on the road in the family 1951 Chevy.  Well, my quick-thinking, race-car driving, Parnelli Jones girlfriend, in order to impress her boyfriend driving by and her two friends in the car with her, shoved the automatic shift lever between the bucket seats up into neutral while putting her foot on the accelerator pedal to the floor… The only problem was that she went right through neutral into reverse!

Well, that high powered car that had too much weight in front from the big engine and not enough weight in the back, juked wildly back and forth like a bucking bronco while those big Uniroyal Tiger Paw, Wide Oval tires screamed and smoked like a wildfire as they attempted to figure out what direction they were supposed to be going and grab some traction at the same time! 

So, while not smoking, Fiver’s backside jumps and jukes like that car as he attempts to move out toward the toy in the far reaches of the dining room!  Then he takes about three wide leaps and slams on the breaks while he slides into the little rug next to the sliding door until he hits the screen, grabs the toy and returns to me!  Then if I am quick enough, I can pull the toy from his mouth while he is sliding into me and repeat the whole process. 

Once he comes back to me the second time, I tell him what a good dog he is and rub his back and tummy!  Then I get to my feet, brush off the dog hair, straighten my shirt and return to the table where I calmly begin my morning Bible Study!

While he was returning to me from the dining room this morning, I took one look at his face and realized how much he was delighting in our morning game.  Then I thought about how Psalm 37:4 tells us to “Delight thyself in the lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart.” (KJV)  The Good News Bible encourages us to “Seek your happiness in the Lord…”  Those words got me to consider how much I “delight” myself in the Lord… or better yet, how much I activity “seek” my happiness in the Lord!  How about you?  How would you answer the questions that I was asking myself this morning?

The Treasury of David commentary says this means that we are to “make Jehovah the joy and rejoicing of thy spirit.”  Adam Clarke writes “Expect all thy happiness from Him, and seek it in Him.”  These thoughts put some heavy pressure on me today as I considered how much of my happiness over these last 47 years has been derived from my relationship with my wife.  As my heart has cried over her in the midst of the disease that she is gallantly fighting, I come face to face on a daily basis with the question of where my real happiness comes from.

But as I look over the last ten years and where we have been and where we are today, physically, spiritually, emotionally as well as mentally, I find the answer in knowing that the power that has kept me able to face each day is the foundation of peace, trust and happiness that I find in Him!  I realized this morning after playing with the dog and then returning to the table, that I was REALLY looking forward to my time alone with Papa God and His Word.  It is what keeps me energized, full of Godly expectation when I turn my gaze to my wife seated in her wheelchair next to me, and full of the Godly joy that keeps my head above the depressive realities of a life without Him!

What about you?  Where does your happiness come from?  I’ll share more about this and how to get happy in the Lord in our next blog.  But maybe it is time for you to take a long look inside and see what makes you tick.  As I look around at all the physical blessing that surround us, I understand that none of it matters without our strong and joyful relationship with the Lord in and through His Word.  Take a look inside and let me know what YOU find…

Have a great rest of the week and keep asking yourself… “Where am I expecting my happiness to come from today?”