Permission to Be Happy

Today, I give you permission to be happy! It’s easy to get caught up in the stress of everyday life, the obstacles that pop up while we’re striving to reach our goals can make us feel bogged down and cause us to lose focus on why we started in the first place. We feel the need to sacrifice quality relationships with friends, family, God and significant others to work a little harder so we can have a little more, which we think will give us the feelings that we want of happiness, love, acceptance, joy, abundance etc.

If you’re single like me, maybe you’ve been sacrificing the time it takes to go out and meet people and spend time with them to create the life you want because if you work just a little harder, you’ll have a little more and that might make you more suitable for someone.

These are just stories society, social media, our conscious and subconscious tell us. I don’t know about you, but when I look around at the “worldly, socially acceptable” ways of life right now, it’s not the life I want to live! Nor does he want us to! As the Bible tells us in 1 John 2:15-17, “𝐷𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑. 𝐼𝑓 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑚. 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑—𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑠ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒—𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟.”

Instead, we GET to be HAPPY! We GET to focus on the good in life and LIVE life while we have life to live! We GET to find joy and quality in the work that we GET to do and the relationships that we foster without piling on stress and overworking it to the point that we get burnt out and still feel lonely at the end. I GET to do that AND SO DO YOU!

In Matthew 6:26 the Bible tells us, “𝐵𝑒ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑖𝑟. 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑖𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑠𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚. 𝑆𝑜, 𝑡𝑜𝑜, ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑢𝑠–𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑑𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒–𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑓 𝑤𝑒 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑠.”

And in John 10:10 he tells us that he will provide what we need in abundance when we are doing His work and when we do His work, it brings joy and happiness into our lives and our relationships. “𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑦. 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑏𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦.”

While many of us struggle to put it into practice on a regular basis, we GET to work hard to remind ourselves that people didn’t love Jesus because of his social status, how much money he made, the house he lived in, the trucks he drove, the horses he rode, the sports he played, the vacation he took, etc. They loved him because he cared. He took the time to spend the time with those he loved. He built and fostered relationships and trusted the Lord to provide for him while doing His work. He was a good human, just like you and me, and that’s why he changed lives and still does today!

Look how far we’ve all come! The relationships we have and the life we get to live. Starting today, let’s keep going and find the joy and happiness in all things. Let’s lead by example for ourselves, family, friends, peers and strangers. Let’s enjoy the process of life, embrace the journey, build relationships, learn the lessons and SHARE the experience! Let’s lead by example by giving ourselves and each other PERMISSION TO LIVE LIFE HAPPILY & JOYFULLY!