Happiness is... Monday Moments with God

My dear child,

Do you want to be truly happy?  

Then you must listen to the things I tell you and follow my leading.
Embrace my words, plant them deep in your heart and live them.

Let your roots grow down deep into my word until they reach my life-giving water. You will be nourished and won't fall apart or become stressed during the dry, difficult seasons of your life. Instead, you will stay healthy - you will continue to grow spiritually and produce my kind of success in your life.

If you only follow me for the things I can do for you, you will reap selfishness and sadness. But if you learn to know my heart, you will reap an eternal harvest of joy.

Love,
Jesus


“Make no mistake, God is not mocked. A person will harvest what they plant. Those who plant only for their own benefit will harvest devastation from their selfishness, but those who plant for the benefit of the Spirit will harvest eternal life from the Spirit.” Galatians 6:7-8 CEB

Happy are those who trust in the Lord, who rely on the Lord. They will be like trees planted by the streams, whose roots reach down to the water. They won’t fear drought when it comes; their leaves will remain green. They won’t be stressed in the time of drought or fail to bear fruit.Jeremiah 17:7-9 CEB

1 The truly happy person doesn’t follow wicked advice, doesn’t stand on the road of sinners, and doesn’t sit with the disrespectful. ² Instead of doing those things, these persons love the Lord’s Instruction, and they recite God’s Instruction day and night! ³ They are like a tree replanted by streams of water, which bears fruit at just the right time and whose leaves don’t fade. Whatever they do succeeds. Psalm 1:1-3 CEB

Spinning around in circles

“May you always be joyful in your union with the Lord. I say it again: rejoice!” Philippians 4:4 GNT

Eggo is a 10 year old Chihuahua who belongs to our daughter, but we offered to keep her when our daughter moved into a small apartment a few months ago.

Although she is a very vocal, yippy little dog, she does make us smile with some of her antics. Whenever I ask her if she needs to go outside, she scoots around the dining room table several times or dances around in circles until I can get the leash attached to take her out. If we've been gone for a period of time during the day, she will greet us in much the same way with happy little yips and circle spins as we pet and greet her.

Whenever I see her spinning around, I'm reminded of a definition of the word "rejoice" that I heard several years ago. According to the Ancient Hebrew Research Center, the Hebrew word most often translated as "rejoice" refers to spinning around in a circle.

There are times I get excited about the Lord here and now. I can only imagine an excitement so uncontainable that it causes me to spin around in circles when I see him face to face! How about you?

Lord, I rejoice at the thoughts of your coming. Amen!