I think we might just erase the word “happy” from our vocabulary around here. There is biblical happiness in scripture, but our common vernacular has turned the word into something else entirely. Socially we’ve elevated the word into a philosophy of life. We want happiness. We crave happiness. We chase happiness. We’re trying to find our happiness. We reject things simply because they do not bring happiness–including marriages, loved ones, careers, and fiscal responsibility. Culturally, we are pursing happiness right off the side of a cliff!

If you search Pinterest, you’ll see thousands of quotes about happiness–and all of them involve some kind of searching, finding, needing, rejecting…all pursing, something elusive but important. And when (if!) you find it, all you end up with is…happiness. Not purpose. Not fulfillment. Not blessings. Not accomplishments. Not a legacy.

Just. Happiness.

Rolling in cow paddies makes my dog happy. Eating fresh grass makes sheep happy.

Friends, there is more to life than that!

Happiness is not a purpose, it’s just an emotional side effect.

And it’s a weak, frail one at that.

Any little setback or trail can break happiness. Are you happy when your child brings home bad grades at school? No. Are you happy when the car breaks down and needs hundreds (or thousands!) in repair work? No. Are you happy when your spouse has a bad day at work and comes home cranky, angry, or short and distant with everyone? No. Are you happy when an animal you’ve been nursing for days dies? No. And if you said yes, these things make me happy, we’d all think there was something wrong with you!

But these are all moments that are just part of life. The idea of pursing happiness and cutting everything unhappy out of your life is just foolish. You’ll find yourself in a constant losing battle. The idea of happiness as the end goal in life is a hopeless ambition.

Happiness isn’t a bad thing! It’s just that you have to accept that’s a fleeting emotion. You can’t make life choices based on finding happiness–it’s not going to last nearly as long as the consequences of the choices you made!

Now JOY is different. JOY is strong. JOY is powerful. JOY is a choice that can be made outside of your circumstances. And true JOY comes from the Lord and can not be found outside of Him. And there’s a lot less Pinterest quotes about JOY. {smile} And most of them are scriptural. Hmm… Quotes about JOY refer to having it, receiving it, choosing it, and being filled with it.

I think it’s a fine line. And I think a lot of folks who say they are pursing happiness, are actually pursing JOY and don’t understand the difference because they don’t have (or want?) “the whole God thing”–which explains why it doesn’t work out.

How do you know the difference?

Here’s how I see it, just me.

Those moments when you’ve done nothing to deserve it and nothing to create it, but the moment is so beautiful, and there are no words strong enough to describe it, when “I’m happy” is just lame, when “beautiful” is just not big enough, when everything feels perfectly ordinary and perfectly right at the same time, when you finally understand that this moment (and the next and the next) are a gift that could only come from God and there’s pretty much nothing you could do to re-create it…that’s JOY.

Why do I bring this up under the daily farm adventures?

Because we’ve had a lot of visitors to the farm lately and we get a lot of comments about “we love to drive by, it just makes us so happy to see the little ones running around” and “we’d love to do something like this one day too. I’d be happy to just watch the chickens all day.”

And I think, “Who has time to sit around watching the chickens all day?!” {grin}

But honestly, part of me wants to say, “You have no idea what you’re getting in to!”

If you go into farming or homesteading for “happiness” you’re going to be sorely disappointed. There is so. much. work. So much sweat. So much financial stress. So much blood and pain and death and heartache…how could what we feel when we look out on those fields EVER compare to the emotion someone sees just driving by? There has to be more to it!

And there is…JOY.

This farm adventure has brought us happiness, but so much un-happiness too! So many difficult, painful moments. The highs are great, but the lows are so low. They would never balance out on the general happiness scale. Yet I would never discourage anyone from doing it themselves, because here I have found so much JOY. 

I have learned how to dig deep, way past happiness, and find peace. I have learned how to stay the course when my happiness-meter said, cut and run right now! I have learned how to slow down and accept how much bigger the world is than me–how much greater God is to paint the sky new each morning and evening, to grow the grass and flowers each season, to send the rain and hail and snow and sun…and all I can do is watch. I have learned to be grateful for the tiniest blade of grass in a new-planted field. I have learned to wait on late lambs, even when you want the season to be done. I have learned to watch paint dry before the second coat!

I have learned to watch my children cry, so they can learn that life is not all about happiness. That a bad day (or week, or season, or year!) doesn’t make a bad life.

There is a beauty in that far beyond the realm of “happy.” If we were chasing happiness we would have ditched this lifestyle a long time ago! I feel that way about parenting and marriage too. What do you think?

See where I’m sharing this week…