Saturday, January 22, 2011

Happiness of Joy

I read through a friend's blog post recently that contrasts the differences of happiness and joy. Travis writes: "A good life can't rely on places, jobs, or people for hope and confidence... that would be like relying on scratch lotto tickets for a stable financial future".

Happiness is circumstantial. Circumstances that are unpleasant are most often out of our control. Joy is more of a foundation. A foundation that gauges our reactions and satisfactions. A foundation based of our faith and beliefs. Joy is the hope of knowing an outcome to an unpleasant circumstance.

Joy based on the wrong beliefs is not joyful, even under happy circumstances. Read Ecclesiastes 2:1-17. Uncountable happy circumstances only resulted in an astounding grievous response.

Now read Nehemiah 8:10. Mainly the part about "do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength". This is a command, do not! Do not grieve, why not? Because the LORD is the foundation of our joy, and the foundation is secure. This is written in Nehemiah in a time that the Israelites had been in captivity. Read that as an unpleasant circumstance. Even in times of distress one can have joy if their foundation is secure.


In conclusion I am extremely excited for California. Let's hope for some warm weather!
And because I did not post this before (December 30, 2010, a few minutes before 7am local): Earthquakes make a good alarm clock.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Phrases In Consulting

"Good, fast, cheap; pick two."
"You can't make the neighborhood safe if your house is on fire."
"It's the version of the truth that's corporately accepted."
"It's bleeding; here's a cast."

(happy binary time)