Being happy is much like the helium gas that once inflated this “Happy” balloon. We fill our life-balloon with, “if only.” “If only… (I get this job, new car, get invited, pass this exam, meet this person, take this trip, win this game, get this award and on & on). The interesting thing about the “if only” is that even if we get them, they soon lose their luster. Like the ballon in the picture, our once happy loses its air and drags down the streets of life.

I will never forget the God School Lesson on Happy. As always, God School Lab Sessions (where God teaches a Scriptural Principle using everyday life) happen when you least expect it. This one happened at the end of the day after almost everyone had gone home from work. Everyone except the 5 teenagers.

As the Director of Employment Services for a local program providing life & employment skills for people with developmental disabilities, I had agreed to work with an at-risk youth organization. We met with the 5 teenage “street” kids and explained their job, “Help a person with a disability become job ready.” We paired each teenager with a person with a sever disability.

It was around 5pm that afternoon as I walked out of my office where they sat waiting on me. “Mr. Robert, we have a question. Why are they happy?” In just a few short hours their world had been flipped upside down by men & women who had so little, but had so much. Their “Happy” ballon got popped.

Scripture repeats this Principle repeatedly. In Matthew 19:16, a well to do young man asks Jesus, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” Jesus told him in verse 21, “go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” He never came back. His wealth, position his worldly life, of being “Happy” was his lord. Jesus made it clear in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

When we accept Jesus as Lord of our life, we begin the process of transforming our quest for happiness to the enduring qualities that only Jesus can provide. God spoke through Paul in Galatians 5:22, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.” These are the qualities that last in the good times & bad. It’s the free gift a Believer receives “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9

It is through this fruit that we can experience what Jesus described in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

Isn’t it time you stopped filling your life with the helium of the world? Isn’t it time you found the power of Joy? “Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.” 1 Peter 1:8