Today looks especially beautiful. God really took His time designing Stellenbosch and I’m just soaking all this loveliness in. I am reminded to be joyful “just because” which is easier said than done when you have test week as well as so many other worries. But the Holy Spirit reminds me of,
Matthew 6:25-33
New International Version (NIV)
“25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”
With this scripture in mind, I realize that needing a reason to be happy is just a waste of time. For if we seek a reason, we may never be truly happy. Cue weird statement: happiness does not always mean the absence of sadness. Why is it so hard for us to be happy “just because”? We go through life waiting for the right moments or we say things like, “I’ll be when…” No no, I refuse to be part of this statistic. It’s definitely not easy to exude happiness when your mind is waging war but it’s better than living life based off of reasons and not just living life.
We spend so much time worrying and waiting for better days when God’s response to that is “CHILL OUT! I gots dis”. Ok, He wouldn’t use those words per say but you catch my drift. As I look at the trees and all that God has created; the scripture that I quoted earlier really becomes real because God displays His care and love all around us. He DOES look after all the animals and the grass of the field and so, by implication with us being made in His image, He WILL care for us more. Even more so than what we expect.
So, I will not worry…at least not for today.
And just like the sky today in Stellenbosch, I will choose to be happy.
