Living for Later

Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

At FaithLifts, this month’s theme is “Joy.” To me, there is a difference between joy and happiness, though most often the two words are used interchangeably. Happiness is a circumstantial state of mind, depending on what is going on around you. You’re happy when your kids are behaving. You’re happy when your husband brings you flowers for no reason. You’re happy when your checkbook is balanced.

Somebody sent me this a long time ago, and I have saved it, because it is true:

We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren’t old enough and we’ll be more content when they are. After that, we’re frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage. We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, are able to go on a nice vacation, when we retire. The truth is, there’s no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when?

Alfred D. Souza said, “For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin—real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served or a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.”

So stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school, until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have kids, until your kids leave the house, until you start work, until you retire, until you get married, until you get divorced, until Friday night, until Sunday morning, until you get a new car or home, until your car or home is paid off, until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter, until the first or the fifteenth, until your song comes on, until you’ve had a drink, until you’ve sobered up, until you die, to decide that there is no better time to be happy. Author Unknown

I know I am certainly guilty of living for “later.” I save those expensive candles to burn later. I tell myself that life will be easier later, when the kids are older. The problem with later is, it never seems to come. So we plod through life never really seizing the time we have with all of the abundance Jesus intended. I think that is where the difference between joy and happiness is found.

Joy dwells down deep in your soul, and is a constant state that does not depend on circumstances. Joy can still be found when the bank account is empty, when your picnic gets rained out, or when your husband isn’t being very nice to you. Joy, in short, comes directly from Christ living within you. It is a fruit of the Spirit and can’t be postponed, delayed, or eradicated. When you are focusing on Jesus and not your circumstances, it is easy to find joy, hope and peace. He provides it through the Holy Spirit, just as He promised to do. We don’t have to wait on our circumstances to change—we don’t have to live for later. We can find joy now! I don’t want to miss the joy that is mine because I am too focused on the externals in my life. My friend says this is, “Loving God for who He is, not what He does.” When I do this, I find the blessings God intended me to have today instead of missing them by waiting on tomorrow. I don’t know about you, but I think I’ll give my toddler an extra hug and light those candles I’ve been saving. Living for later is making me miss life now! I plan to choose joy in the now over happiness in the later.