Happiness During the Worst Fire Season Ever

Listening to the survivors of the worst fire season in California history, I am struck with how happy most of them are happy just to be alive. They have lost everything they owned, and yet they consider themselves "blessed" to be alive. In surviving, they had discovered something about their own resilience that they could never have known apart from that event.

Are you able to be happy just because you are alive and the sun is shining? Or, if it is storming outside, are you happy to have a roof over your head?

As believers, we are encouraged - no, we are commanded - to have an attitude that refelcts happiness. But God doesn't tell us to do something without telling us how to do it: "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all cirumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thessa 5:16-18)

To be happy, we must be thankful, recognizing that God's will is being worked out in all the circumstances of our lives. Because His will is always good, acceptable, and perfect, we can be genuinely thankful... and happy.

Have you ever seen a spoiled child ho has just been deprived of some small thing? If not, just go to a grocery store and listen to the whiners and fit-throwers who go through the check-out line demanding a candy bar from a mother who will usually give in: "Oh, go ahead. Take it and hush."

We must sometimes seem like spoiled children, pouting and making demands of our Heavenly Father because we don't have all we think we need. When we begin to take stock, we may discover how very blessed we are.

The story is told of a woman named Jan Struthers who died a few years ago. Since her death, attention has been given to a little poem she wrote, which was read at her funeral. Not only does the poem reveal a rare spirit, but it also inspires and enlightens others:

One day my life will end; and lest
Some whim should prompt you to
review it,
Let her who know the subject best
Tell you the shortest way to do it:
Then say "here lies one doubly blest."
Say "She was happy." Say: "She knew it."