Are You Truly Happy?

Yesterday as Stephen and I worked, I looked out over my neighborhood and noticed how much my neighbors want that "perfect" lawn. You know the kind--beautiful green grass, no weeds, immaculate flower beds, beautiful landscaping--the "perfect" yard.

Then I look at my own yard filled with toys, weeds, my porch is covered in chalk drawings by my daughter and her friends, my yard over flows with children from the neighborhood. Sometimes I would love to have the plush green grass, or the beautiful landscaped flower beds. I would love to have the gorgeous new windows and matching shutters, instead of the drabby gray color that they are. But then--

It is then that I realize my yard is the most perfect. I have come to realize that just because someone's yard seems "perfect", if you look close enough there are those "weeds" that keep poking out, the ones we try to mask in order to make our yards look perfect.

When you look at mine, there is nothing hiding. My yard, just like my life, is transparent for all to see. If I tried to hide my "weeds" so that other people wouldn't see them, then they wouldn't see the miraculous work that Jesus has done on my heart. It is because of those weeds that I am who I am today.

Yesterday, as I looked out my door at my children playing in my imperfect yard, it was then that my heart swelled with pride and I thanked the Lord again for setting my feet in a different direction than what I had originally intended to go. It was then that I realized even though I don't have a lot of money, that I am content. It was then that I realized I have a life that most people secretly dream of. It is one of contentment. I am truly happy. I love the person that Jesus is molding me into being.

What about you? Are you struggling with contentment? Are you miserably trying to make yourself happy? Maybe that thing that you have been avoiding--that thing that God keeps bringing to your remembrance--is the one thing that will make you happy--will make you content.

Job 36:11 (New International Version)

 ¹¹ If they obey and serve him,
       they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity
       and their years in contentment.

Proverbs 19:23 (New International Version)

 ²³ The fear of the LORD leads to life:
       Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.

Philippians 4:11 (New International Version)

¹¹I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

Philippians 4:12 (New International Version)

¹²I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

Hebrews 13:5 (New International Version)

⁵Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
   "Never will I leave you;
      never will I forsake you.