I think the happiest time of my life was when I was drama director at my church. I was using my gifts and I felt important. My husband and children were involved and we laughed a lot. I have some very happy memories during that time and I would only pick one. Maybe your event was 20 years ago, maybe it is right now.
Got it?
I want you to do something that actors do, called "The Moment Before;" it is what gives the actors the ability to go on stage to portray what their character would be feeling as they act their part.
Don't be afraid this isn't something mystic, it is just remembering how you felt when you, say, got married, held your new born child for the first time, passed the bar exam, ...
Close your eyes and relive it, allow yourself to relive the emotions of that event.
Pure joy, Happiness, Feels good right! Don't you wish you feel that way everyday, have those experiences all the time?
You can't
Why did I make you do that?
Kinda depressing right?
We judge our present state on some happy exciting moment that happened at another time. You might ask, "Is wrong to enjoy these memories?" I would say no, but they are not what defines us ...
We cannot allow those events define our joy, we cling to those moments and we relive them. Then we wish, if only ...
So many times I have wished for my mom to be alive .. if only she was here ..
then I would be happy.
Ok, so why can't we just feel that way all the time? Well, first of all there is a physiologically reason,
It would stress out our adrenals to where we would be in adrenal fatigue. It would also be added pressure on your Thyroid gland.
But the main reason I want you to know is ... This ...
you would not grow in character.
The two truths I want you to take from this blog
These moments do not define you
AND
You do not grow in character during those moments of euphoria.
When I left the position of Drama Director, our entire family went through a very dark time. We lost a lot, not only, money but friends, respect, and the emotional strain was almost unbearable. I whined and cried out to God .. turned my back on His plan. Those moments leading, directing, and acting had defined my joy.
All of this started in the summer of 2007 ... it has been 5 years of struggle.
But God never lets go.
I read a book in the fall of 2012 that started me back on God's road. Up until I read, My Decent into Death, I was pretending to be happy and fulfilled. This book prepared me for the quote below.
“If you think of this world as a place simply intended for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable: think of it as a place for training and correction and it's not so bad.”C.S. Lewis
My next several blogs are going to be on Training and Correction ... and how that defines your joy.
Are you willing to find that kind of JOY?
