Simply happy

What makes you happy? What "floods your soul with joy"? I have met people that would struggle for long periods of time to answer this question. The inspiration of my wife is what makes me stop and think about this. Otherwise, I would just walk through life with a smile on my face. She inspires me to think hard about what it is that keeps me happy. Here are a few thoughts on the subject . . .

• Living a life of genuineness and authenticity with my beloved wife. No secrets. No fear of confrontation. No avoidance. All of me all the time for all of her. We share everything. While I love sharing lots of things with others, too, I love how much that is just between us and God.
• Even more than that (imagine!), is knowing that I walk daily in right relationship with God. He has paid for my sin and calls me to live boldly within the relationship that He established and maintains. I glory in the grace of God! I can only have right and healthy thinking as my thinking dwells on His truth. Where I have emotional and physical health it is an echo of His mind and a gift from His hand.
• My children are amazing. I know there will be roads and bridges that we travail together in deliberate fashion. I know that I will have to be become weaker and weaker to depend more on God through prayer. I even know that there is heartache ahead--whether through "owning" hard moments or just letting go. Bring on the pain! God will be there with me in it. I embrace God's order and live with an understanding that they belong to Him (at least I think I do--talk to me in 8 years!).
• The simple list (random order):
  
• My favorite: pushing myself to surge in mile 4 of a 6 mile tempo run and feeling the air burn in my lungs in resistance to what I am forcing them to do. Push harder? Absolutely--throw the hammer down in mile 6. I love it! The only thing better? Finishing uphill and into the wind.
• The first cup of coffee of the morning. When I walk into the kitchen and my wife has the coffee ready. The first ingredient in her coffee is sacrifice, and it makes that coffee so rich and bold. Coffee store coffee pales in comparison to Nikki's!
  
• The colors and climate of fall. Monday: 85 degrees. Today: 55 and very windy. I cannot wait until the first frost, the first snow and my first sub-zero run.
  
• Sweet Tea. I don't want to brag, but I make the best sweet tea I've ever had (it's my blog).
• Correcting my kid's math homework. I love checking up on what I've told them to do. I especially love the look of security on their face when they delight in doing what they understood that they were supposed to do. It's like them saying everyday: I know that my place is with you dad--you're showing me how to do it. Thanks.
• My drive home along the Lake. I live along a Great Lake. When I drive home up our hill and see the Lake's mood of the day, I always wonder at God's creativity and generosity. Every day. I have lived near the same spot on this Lake for over 20 of my 37 years and it never gets old.
  
• When my wife has a hard issue to talk over. I love seeing and knowing her heart. I love that she would trust me with the inner-most places of her being. I love knowing her better than anyone. I love that Scripture (and God!) has already arrived in this place and gives us all we need to deal with hard stuff.
• My sister turns 50 today (edited, 10/12). Wow. I was born into a family of 7 kids. We're all still here, including my parents. As I read that, it looks morbid. I am reminded of a message I heard from James MacDonald this week: "The doctor cannot tell you 'if' you have a terminal disease--you have a terminal life. He can give you a handle on 'when' you may die, but not 'if.' You are going to die."
  
• "Every second of every day is a gift of life from God until He justly decides to stop giving them."
• My other sister delivered a baby boy, Nolan Thomas, into the world this week (her ninth child). Wooooooo! Praising God with her and her family.
  
• The depths of the wisdom of God. Every time I study the culture more I see that God has already spoken His truth to us and it it still the thing that every person needs. Whether it's a broken leg, a broken mind, or a broken family, God's Word says what you need and how you need it. God's Spirit makes it all real.

In closing, let me say that I believe you can only chose moment-by-moment joy when you stand right before God, and if you stand right before God you will choose moment-by-moment joy. I have a long way to go, and life is always moving. As God as my help I way that nothing will ever separate me from the love of God--not things past, present or yet to come.