Because I’m happy
Clap along if you feel
like happiness is the truth
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you know
what happiness is to you
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you feel
like that’s what you wanna do
Here come bad news
talking this and that, yeah,
Well, give me all you
got, and don’t hold it back, yeah,
Well, I should probably
warn you I’ll be just fine, yeah,
No offense to you, don’t
waste your time
Here’s why
Can't nothing bring me
down
My level's too high
Bring me down
Can't nothing bring me
down
I said (let me tell you
now)
Bring me down
Can't nothing bring me
down
My level's too high
Bring me down
Can't nothing bring me
down
I said
Philippians 4:11-13
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
11 Not
that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with
whatever I have. 12 I know what it is to have little, and I
know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the
secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in
need. 13 I
can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Elizabeth’s Reflections or “The Redneck
Theologian”
Today
Shannon provided a powerful and thought provoking message regarding our
decision point between the point of stimuli and the choice of response we have
in situations. We each get to
choose if we will be positive or negative in each situation.
Once we
choose, we tend to self-reinforce our choices and create a cycle of habit. These habits then, become the way we
tend to be known. Thus if we have
a tendency to choose the positive and reinforce those choices, we are likely
known as a positive person. If we
tend to choose the negative then reinforce such, then we may very well become
known as a negative person.
Shannon
began her message with a delightful video of a current song by the artist
Pharrell with a cute video. The lyrics above help you understand why the song
is taking the country by storm.
Everyone in American is doing the “happy” dance from Oprah to Good
Morning America. The positive
affirmations of the lyrics and the upbeat music, which accompanies it, are
appealing across genres.
In
reading the scripture for today, we focus on the concept of being
content-regardless of the situation.
Whether we are content in good times or content suffering.
This reminds me of advice
I recently wrote for my daughter upon her college graduation. My husband and I each provided “advice
to our daughter upon her graduation” in a booklet she might keep. In one note,
I wrote a series of 10 pieces of advice and one point was “find happiness in
the ordinary.” I offered this
advice because I believe it important that she cherish the everyday moments. As
the poet William Blake opens one of his famous poems with, “To see a World in a Grain of Sand, And a Heaven in a Wild
Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand, And Eternity in an hour” I hope
for her to find bliss in common moments, to see the extraordinary in the
ordinary because it is the ordinary where we spend the majority of our moments
and if we disregard those moments seeking only the high of the extraordinary,
then we discard the majority of our life.
Shannon’s
commentary made me think of Viktor E. Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning.
Frankl, a Holocaust survivor is famous for his pioneering of the belief
that humans do have a choice in how they respond.
Frankl says,
If
there is meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in
suffering. Suffering is an
imperadicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death human life cannot be
complete. The way in which a man
accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up
his cross, gives him ample opportunity—even under the most difficult circumstances—to
add a deeper meaning to his life.
Frankl’s
reflections, made all the more powerful knowing he drew his conclusions as he
watched individuals deal with life and death before his very eyes.
Thus
between the point we receive a stimuli and the point of our response, we have a
choice. God has already provided
Jesus for us and our battle has been won. We need not wallow in pity and wage a
war filled with anger and bitterness.
The war has already been won.
We
may choose to live our lives in a way that defines us, with a deeper meaning,
as a child of God, dealing with joyful and difficult circumstances, but always
as a Child of an all-powerful God.