a sure way to find happiness

Sitting in church on Sunday Lucy passed me over the notebook where she had been diligently writing some notes.

She wanted me to read her thoughts.

So I did.

They were filled up with gratitude.

One thing after another.

This made me tear up, of course, because I’m her mom. And things like that just make moms cry.

But this note particularly hit me since that girl has been struggling so much lately. Oh how she wants her life to be “normal.” I think this shift to turning sixteen and all the kids her age starting to get drivers licenses and having so much freedom has been especially difficult. She wonders why that God she believes in would let her go through what she is going through. She is trying her best, after all. She is working so hard. Sometimes you can almost see her brain just shifting, trying to work it’s way through those emotions. So why, she wonders, does she have to be going through what she’s doing. Doesn’t God bless those who diligently seek Him?

I think that’s such a universal question: why do bad things happen to good people? We ask it in various ways over and over again.

But of course God’s love is not transactional: we don’t automatically get a reward when we do something good.

Instead, that “reward” comes when we continue to keep turning and looking for what we can be learning along the way. And how we can connect to God who has the power to help us through any obstacle.

So, Lucy made a choice, again, on Sunday, and continues to chose over and over again, to just trust that God knows what He is doing.

She wrote that she is thankful for (among a slew of other things) “close sisters, in-laws, one-of-a-kind opportunities, music, sunsets…these are just a few miracles that happen to me in everyday life that make me grow and love and learn and let more light in every day. God gives us trials but He also gives us things to get through them.”

Wise words of wisdom from my girl who I think can actually feel those sunsets she loves so much.

So, as we set off on this week of gratitude, that girl of mine has filled up MY heart with gratitude as well.

I love that as she sits in church she allows her heart to be filled up with the good things (see the “good timber” post HERE from last week at church).

So what is the “sure way to find happiness?”

Look for those blessings even amidst the tough stuff.

The light is there if we chose to seek it.

Happy Gratitude Week!