Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Happiness

Because I love you, it's not my number one goal to make you happy. It's not even my number two or three or four goal for you. No, that isn't a typo, and yes, I am thinking straight.

I love to see you smile and I enjoy hearing you laugh, but I want that to stem from something more than a new toy truck, ice-cream from McDonald's, or a visit to the playground.

I want you to discover happiness because you know Jesus loves you. Because you have a joy way, deep down inside that is so much bigger and better than a lollipop or stickers or cartoons.
I want you to know that toys will break, vacations will end, and cookies will crumble. I want you to understand that friends aren't always nice, brothers and sisters can be annoying, and mom and dad will make mistakes.

But mostly I want you to grasp that regardless of any of this, you can still be content and you can choose to be happy. 
You can choose to be happy. You can choose to be happy. Yes, I'm repeating myself, but I've gotten pretty good at that since you're often too busy playing to hear me the first time.
I want to give you every opportunity during the short time I have you in my home to know that your choices are your responsibility and that your happiness is your choice. It's your attitude. It's your contentment.

Life won't be fair. Your toys won't be the newest. Your house won't be the biggest. You won't run the fastest. There will always be someone that has something or can do something better than you.

But that's okay because you can still be happy. You can still choose to find contentment and confidence in who Jesus made you to be and in what he blessed you to have.
Yes, because I love you, it's not my number one goal to make you happy.  My number one goal is to help you know, love, and serve Jesus. And I'm 100% sure that if you can do that you'll have happiness like nothing else can offer and like no one else can give.

6 comments:

  1. I love, love, LOVE this post, Sarah! I agree with it 200%! I am going to have Jack read this post later, we have had one of "those" afternoons and he is clearly not remembering that happiness is his choice!
    (And I still love TMC Children's Motto, too!)

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  2. This is SUCH a great post-girl!!!! You are so right and THANKS for the great reminder!!!
    You should so write a book;)

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  3. Amen, sista! We all need to be reminded of this...not just our kids! Thanks for the great post!

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  4. Sarah,
    God uses you to encourage so many people through your blogs. I have been super encouraged by a few of your posts recently. God had used you and is using you in my life through your blogs. Thanks for writing!
    -Carolyn

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  5. So well said! Can I use this with a group of moms if I quote you? -Erica

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