Are you happy?

I'm speaking at Westerford CU today, kind of a spur of the moment invite. They are looking at the fruit of the Spirit and asked me to talk about the difference between happiness and joy.

Huh?

Considering I'm giving the talk in 3 hours, it's way to late for my blog brothers and sisters to help, but let me tell you what I've got so far.

Happiness is FEELING good about life
Joy is KNOWING your life IS good.

Don't get me wrong, happiness is good, really good. But it is unpredictable (is what makes you happy now the same thing that made you happy when you were 15?), really circumstantial (and so to a big extend out of your control) and usually only lasts a short time.

And that's why people spend their whole life try to chase happiness, because it DOESN'T satisfy. It's like trying to nail jelly to a wall. I reckon in the evolution of stuff, when happiness grows up, it wants to become joy.

Joy is knowing who you are and where your going. It's knowing your forgiven, accepted and heaven bound. These facts of life might bring you hardship, but you will still have a peace, calmness, contentment, satisfaction that happiness alone can't deliver.

Happiness is just joy with amnesia, trying to drown out the uncertainty with sound and fury.

Where do you fall.? Happy, or joyful? Or both? (or neither?)

Scott