Call to be Happy

Growing up in a farming community, we always heard the old saying “There’s no such thing as a happy farmer” – referring to the lack of rain or too much rain, lack of heat or too much heat – no condition was ever optimal!  I think we look at our lives like that, at times anyway, saying, “If I only had more time….” Or “If that person wasn’t in the picture it would all be easier…..or “if you would only see it my way…”  It might be easier never to admit to being happy, but it certainly isn’t healthier or wiser or even holier!  Of course we must acknowledge and embrace the difficulties, the stumbling blocks (or blockheads!) that seem to impede our path to joy – but it’s the how we integrate all of that tough stuff with a call to be happy that is the challenge.  One translation of the line from Paul’s letter to the Philippians 4:4 is “I want you to be happy, always happy in the Lord.”  Pie in the sky?  Impossible?  I think not.  What about you? 

Priscilla Wood, OP

Dubuque, IA