I have a lot to say about this one, so I'm going to try to keep it as short as I can.

When I started thinking about the idea of a happiness project & happiness resolutions, I wondered if this was a good idea for me, faith-wise. As a YoungLife leader, we encouraged kids to understand that there was a hole in their hearts and lives that could only be filled by a relationship with Christ. Although other things like school, relationships, drugs, alcohol, etc., could temporarily fill that void, they wouldn't satisfy them very long.

I've always struggled with the idea that I feel the most happy when my house is clean. I've always wondered if a tidy house was what I use to fill the void in my heart. Even though I know and love Christ, I stray from our relationship at times, and I wonder if at those times, I lean more heavily on things like a clean house to bring me joy.

I also thought a lot about the fruits of the spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and understanding. (Gal 5) At first, I wondered if joy was something that I shouldn't be looking to find, instead something that I've already been given. But as I do not find it easy to be understanding of others, and certainly I do not find it easy to be patient with others, I think that joy, along with the other fruits of the spirit are things that I have to practice - they're not just an inherent part of my everyday life.

I think I've never really paid attention to what comes before the fruits of the spirit verse in Galatians 5... I sort of just know that it's coming, so I skim down, remind myself of them, and keep cruising on. But this time I read "Love your neighbor as yourself." And then a bit further down "So I say, live by the spirit..."

I realized that joy, as well as the other fruits, is something that I was given to help me love others. And I know that when I am not joyful, I do a crappy job of loving. I am not patient, I am not kind, I am not peaceful, I am certainly not patient, I am not good, gentle, or understanding. It seems that joy is helpful, if not essential, in me practicing all of the other fruits of the spirit. It's as if it's the apple at the grocery store that is holding all of the other apples in place - only you don't know it until you pull it out and you suddenly have an apple avalanche.

So this challenge for me is not to purely "be happy." If I wanted to just be happy, I'd move us all out to Disneyworld and we'd play at Blizzard Beach all day. Instead, this challenge is for me to be more joyful so that I can love God and love others better. I'm hoping that in addition to being a better lover (I seriously can't write that without giggling), I can practice the other fruits of the spirit as well.

And to readdress the issue of housecleaning being the thing that I fill my void with, I honestly still don't know. It probably is. But I'd imagine that if I can learn to love others better, and work on loving God better, I will find more joy in that than I ever did in an alphabetized spice rack.

So at the top of the list of joy resolutions is #1 - Love God, love others. If that's not my goal everyday, then this is worthless.