Grace to Laugh
On New Year’s Eve, Brittany was working hard at her restaurant job when she suddenly went into labor. Her son was the first baby born in her city that year, but that wasn’t the most remarkable thing about the birth. According to Brittany, neither she nor her husband had any idea she was pregnant. The baby was a surprise!
Happiness & Joy
My wife, Merryn, and I spent last Christmas on the Isle of Mull in Scotland. With its snow-capped mountains and vivid landscape, it’s a truly beautiful place! One moment we drove through snowstorms, the next we saw double rainbows appear from end to end. To me, Mull is a place of fairytales.
Blessed to be a Blessing
As a Chinese person, I celebrated my new year on February 8. During the special New Year season, I greeted people with these words among others: “gōng xǐ fā cái” (happiness and prosperity) and “nián nián yǒu yú” (a wish for abundance and surpluses)—extending blessings of good health, prosperity, success, and happiness.
if only i had . . .
Even as a child, I can remember coveting things that other people possessed. One day I was playing at my cousin’s house when one of his toys caught my eye. I begged to take it home, and when my parents refused me the pleasure, I cried and created quite a scene.
hospitality to strangers
In 2011, marine biologists around the globe were fixated on a pod of sperm whales in the North Atlantic Ocean; they had adopted a bottlenose dolphin calf. Jens Krause, a German behavioral ecologist, told one news source that sperm whales have “never been known to mingle this closely with another species.” Apparently the young dolphin had a spinal defect and couldn’t swim fast enough to keep up with other dolphins. But surprisingly, the sperm whales gathered the struggling dolphin into their fold.
the source of joy
On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your level of joy?
happy new year!
Happy New Year!” “Have a joyous New Year!” We will hear a lot of these greetings today. And you’ll find yourself saying them to others too. Undoubtedly, we hope that 2014 will be a blessed and joyous year for us. The psalmist articulated his desire for happy days ahead with this confident affirmation: “Joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the LORD their God” (Psalm 146:5).
food that satisfies
Why do you work? This question was part of a lifestyle survey used to determine the happiness of workers. If you think my answer reflected a grandiose, altruistic perspective on how my labor improves the economic betterment of society, you’ll be sorely disappointed. The answer I gave was that I work for survival—so that I can have food on my family’s table. Whether you’re a CEO or a student working part-time, you essentially work for your next meal. It’s raw, but real. Hunger comes in repeated waves. It doesn’t matter how well you ate today, you’ll be hungry again tomorrow. It’s an empty stomach that drives us on in our labors (Proverbs 16:26).
quitting time
Sorting through some old papers, I found a yellowed pay-stub that showed I had worked 100 hours in the span of 7 days. It’s crazy—I know, since there are only 168 hours in a week. As I fingered the faded document, I tried to recall the project that had required so much of my time many years ago. I looked…
envy
A student was praising one of my colleagues, and I was glad to hear it. This student had been critical of the professor, so I was pleased that she now saw what I already knew. But when she said that the professor’s class was her favorite, I felt a twinge of sadness. Why not mine? I had cheered for my…
elusive and illusive
Solomon laid out the yardsticks of success in ancient Jewish society: wealth, honor, possessions, a very large family, and a very long life (Ecclesiastes 6:2-3). Today, a large family and long life would be deemed by some as more of a burden and trouble than success. But wealth, possessions, and honor are definitely contemporary yardsticks of success.
Even as you…
July 9, 2012
How would you explain the difference between experiencing happiness and joy in life?
love hurts
Olivia Wilde is a film star who divorced her Italian prince because their marriage was requiring more effort and returning less fun. “I don’t think love should be work,” the actress told an interviewer, “My parents have been married for 35 years. They said, ‘You have to work at it. That’s what it takes.’ But we tried, and it wasn’t…
