I teach the adult Sunday School class, and in yesterday’s lesson, I asked the million dollar question:
What is our purpose in life?
The answer?
To have joy.
We talked about how we often conflate joy and happiness and pleasure, and that while those words at some times might mean the same things, often they don’t. And one wise woman noted that it is up to us to see the joy every day–it’s there if we just look.
How does this tie in to my February goal of laughing? Here’s what I realized today: I laugh every day. In casual conversations with friends and students, very rarely do I not laugh. It’s ridiculous for me to try and set a goal to laugh, because I’m already there. Laughing is just part of my life.
And I’m glad it is, because I can’t imagine how much more difficult my life would be if I couldn’t laugh every day. My dad often reminds us that destinations aren’t always that important, that our journeys provide more learning and experience than arriving somewhere. This line of thought drives me crazy most of the time, but he has a point. But it is up to us to find the joy, or happiness, or pleasure in life. It makes the trip of life a lot more tolerable.
So if you haven’t found joy today, look around. For me, right now at this moment, it’s laying on the couch, catching up on Twitter. I have Internet, I have a computer, I have a warm blanket on my feet, and I was home before 5 PM. It’s a good day.
Julie Rowse 