Finding happiness and joy in everyday life

“Be happy. Be bright. Be you.”

—Kate Spade

How many of us have heard happiness is what happens to us while joy is inner peace? I never really understood that. I always thought happiness is something that happens on the inside, and it can be interchangeable with the word joy.

Being a Christian, I heard the world gives happiness and God gives joy. I actually did a deep dive into the meaning of happiness because I kept asking myself, "What am I missing? Am I just being stubborn and want happiness so bad I am willing to be happy and ignore the wisdom of others?"

What I found is happiness and joy are in many ways similar. In fact, the definition of both is a state of well-being. Also, both are synonyms of each other. The state of well-being is true for both in the Bible as well. The Bible doesn’t talk about happiness as much as joy, but it does use words that can also mean happiness. Gladness and blessed are two examples of words used in the Bible with the same meaning to describe them.

What does all that mean? I know people who don’t let themselves be happy because they think being happy is not Christian. I believe we all can be happy, and I will dare say God cares about our happiness.

I have heard people say not paying taxes would make them happy, but it's not right. That is going overboard. By the way, not paying taxes would bring joy as well.

What I mean by happiness is what gives us joy, pleasure and a want of purpose in life. What do you like to do? Too many of us just do what we are supposed to do. We can be afraid of living our own lives, but God made us to be ourselves for his glory.

What I said earlier is happiness is much more than an emotion. Real happiness is a well within us we can draw from. Everything in life can go wrong, but it doesn't have to rob us of our happiness.

Happiness is not found in an event; it is found in the little things in life. We all can find happiness in the smile of a baby, hearing the birds sing or being with our family and friends. The thing is we need more experience in doing the things that bring us happiness and joy — that way, our well will get filled up when life gets rough and we will have something to draw from.

Every time we let happiness into our lives, we are adding water to our well, and that cold water will taste so sweet.

Kyle Snyder can be emailed at kylesnyder86@yahoo.com.