Scripture reminds us, commands us, encourages us to rejoice. The God who inspired the Scriptures claims us with joy! A few years ago on the old online theology forums someone mentioned that despite joy permeating the text of scripture, happiness is more grounded, more "milk and honey" more everyday life achievable and... enjoyable, too. Latter-day Saints sometimes talk about God's Plan of Happiness. That sounds mundane and ordinary, but isn't day by day by week by year the entire idea of gospel-centered living?
The promised land of milk and honey means streams and rivers to water the grass so cattle can feed, cows produce milk, people make cheese. Bees mean fertilized crops; bees mean jars of sweet honey on the shelf, drizzles of honey on your home-baked bread. Desert streams mean irrigation for olives, figs, pomegranates, vineyards, barley and wheat. All that vitally inter-related good eatin' outta the good earth leads to conversing and connecting around the table. Happy you're here for me, I'm here for you, happy all of us are here together for each other. Happy is plain, everyday, just for today, one step at a time. Happy is a life you "don't need a vacation from," as Kate's button states.
PS: Happy also means living in the moment // living in the moment often leads to happiness. Earlier today when I was at the judicatory offices for a meeting, the surfboards and fishes in my header images made me happy and convinced me to Five Minute Friday.
PPS: These 5 minutes writes are supposed to be unedited, but happily I took the liberty of changing my original land of milk and honey description from past to present tense.
That quote from the image is from Jennifer Dukes Lee and her book The Happiness Dare. You should check it out. I'm over in the 5 spot this week.
ReplyDeleteYes, happiness is the every day living kind of stuff; lives flowing with milk and honey and being fulfilled in the every day. Thank you for the beautiful imagery.
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