Friar Laurence to Romeo: "There art thou happy."
This week, on Tuesday, Tommy turns four years old.
He was five months old when I met him, a fat, sad little baby still suffering from the effects of drug addiction in the womb, and from having had three other mothers before me in his short little life.
I was grieving so much over having to give little MiMi back to her biological family just a couple of weeks before, that it was hard for me to function in those days.
Lord, have mercy on me - I missed MiMi with everything in me. And yet, MiMi was MiMi, and Tommy was Tommy. And God choose to send MiMi to someone else (yet AGAIN...) and to give me Tommy. Who am I to argue with his wisdom?
I was going to love him, and I was going to make him smile.
And so, Tommy and I began the process of getting to know each other. He was sad and a sick baby. I was sad too, but I was an adult. And Tommy was pretty cute, and had floppy blond hair that really appealed to me...
And he DID learn to smile:
And I learned to smile again too:
We like each other. A lot!
So Saturday, my daughter Rachael gave my son Gage a graduation party (something else I will blog about when Mary Susannah gets the pictures downloaded and "fixed up"). My car is having a terrible time, and I decided that while I was in Fort Worth for the party, I would get Tommy's birthday present, and not have to make that trip again in an 'iffy' car. We headed to PetSmart, thinking we would get a lizard. Once inside,I pulled up a little step stool to a stack of aquariums, high enough to let him look at most of the reptiles, but not high enough for him to see the snakes. I draw the line at snakes in my house. I have, however, been known to stick my hand into a box full of 500 crickets when son Gage was ten or so and going through his own reptile stage. I was young back then, though, and my heart was stronger...
Then, my soon to be four year old son and I walked around PetSmart to see what else was there. We looked at hamsters (which I thought he would pick, but sure hoped he wouldn't - they STINK!) and then we found the birds.
Tommy is VERY attracted to birds, second only to snakes, and before long, we were walking out of PetSmart with a new cage, a nest, two bags of seed, and two boxes containing a male and a female finch. Tommy carefully loaded them into a safe place in the car, and climbed into his car seat. As I buckled him in, he looked at me with his sweet brown eyes and sighed, saying quietly, "I so happy."
My mommy heart melted. Because that was my goal, three and a half years ago when they placed a sober, sick, sad baby in my arms. I wanted to make him happy.
Ever since Tommy said that, I have been thinking about "happy". We are spoiled in America, and think we have to have lots of stuff to be happy. The more we get, we think, the happier we will be. I call this when/then thinking: "WHEN I get (a new car, new furniture, a new house, a better job, a better education, more money, married...) THEN I will be happy."
But do material things really make us happy?
I've been worrying over lack of money and car troubles, but those are such temporary things. The money problem was resolved last week with a settlement Bill won, and that will also solve the car problem soon (I hope) So why did I spend a minute of my short life worrying over that? The bills were paid, we had food (too much food, in fact, the scales have been telling me) and all my children are safe.
A call from CPS asking me if I would considering adopting the three siblings of one of my children, and the trouble that has surfaced for them since that phone call, had me really thinking about "happy". There are people in this world who have really made a mess of things, and that mess has an amazing rippling effect. Lives are taking a tragic turn, and helpless children are being hurt over and over.
Who am I to think I have troubles? And who am I to think I live in a vacuum, and I shouldn't reach out and help? I have so much, and I have the added benefit of knowing the Lord. And he says we are supposed to be happy because of that fact.
So what does the Bible say should make us happy? I decided to look and see.
The first one I thought of was this one:
Psalm 127: 3-5 "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. HAPPY is the man that hath his quiver full of them."
Psalm 113:9 "He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise the Lord."
Okay, I've got that one covered. What do I have to complain about?
Here's a few more:
1 Timothy 6:6 & 8 "But godliness with contentment is great gain...if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that."
Just food and clothes? What about a house? What about a reliable car? A bigger TV and nicer furniture...?
Some other things I found that we should be happy with:
1 Corinthians 13:6 the truth
Psalm 89:15 walking in God's light
Psalm 16:6 our godly heritage
Galatians 5 even tells us that being joyful is one of the fruits of the Spirit. Can we have the Spirit of God, and not be joyful?
Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice!
How simple is that?
The Lord is my strength and my song; he has given me victory. This is my God, and I will praise him—my father’s God, and I will exalt him!
Exodus 15:1-3
So take the words of my little boy as your motto! The simple things are all the reason we need to be happy:
Food and clothes, our salvation, and sometimes, we can throw in a couple of birds for a birthday present:
SMILE
This week, on Tuesday, Tommy turns four years old.
He was five months old when I met him, a fat, sad little baby still suffering from the effects of drug addiction in the womb, and from having had three other mothers before me in his short little life.
I was grieving so much over having to give little MiMi back to her biological family just a couple of weeks before, that it was hard for me to function in those days.
Lord, have mercy on me - I missed MiMi with everything in me. And yet, MiMi was MiMi, and Tommy was Tommy. And God choose to send MiMi to someone else (yet AGAIN...) and to give me Tommy. Who am I to argue with his wisdom?
I was going to love him, and I was going to make him smile.
And so, Tommy and I began the process of getting to know each other. He was sad and a sick baby. I was sad too, but I was an adult. And Tommy was pretty cute, and had floppy blond hair that really appealed to me...
And he DID learn to smile:
And I learned to smile again too:
We like each other. A lot!
So Saturday, my daughter Rachael gave my son Gage a graduation party (something else I will blog about when Mary Susannah gets the pictures downloaded and "fixed up"). My car is having a terrible time, and I decided that while I was in Fort Worth for the party, I would get Tommy's birthday present, and not have to make that trip again in an 'iffy' car. We headed to PetSmart, thinking we would get a lizard. Once inside,I pulled up a little step stool to a stack of aquariums, high enough to let him look at most of the reptiles, but not high enough for him to see the snakes. I draw the line at snakes in my house. I have, however, been known to stick my hand into a box full of 500 crickets when son Gage was ten or so and going through his own reptile stage. I was young back then, though, and my heart was stronger...
Then, my soon to be four year old son and I walked around PetSmart to see what else was there. We looked at hamsters (which I thought he would pick, but sure hoped he wouldn't - they STINK!) and then we found the birds.
Tommy is VERY attracted to birds, second only to snakes, and before long, we were walking out of PetSmart with a new cage, a nest, two bags of seed, and two boxes containing a male and a female finch. Tommy carefully loaded them into a safe place in the car, and climbed into his car seat. As I buckled him in, he looked at me with his sweet brown eyes and sighed, saying quietly, "I so happy."
My mommy heart melted. Because that was my goal, three and a half years ago when they placed a sober, sick, sad baby in my arms. I wanted to make him happy.
Ever since Tommy said that, I have been thinking about "happy". We are spoiled in America, and think we have to have lots of stuff to be happy. The more we get, we think, the happier we will be. I call this when/then thinking: "WHEN I get (a new car, new furniture, a new house, a better job, a better education, more money, married...) THEN I will be happy."
But do material things really make us happy?
I've been worrying over lack of money and car troubles, but those are such temporary things. The money problem was resolved last week with a settlement Bill won, and that will also solve the car problem soon (I hope) So why did I spend a minute of my short life worrying over that? The bills were paid, we had food (too much food, in fact, the scales have been telling me) and all my children are safe.
A call from CPS asking me if I would considering adopting the three siblings of one of my children, and the trouble that has surfaced for them since that phone call, had me really thinking about "happy". There are people in this world who have really made a mess of things, and that mess has an amazing rippling effect. Lives are taking a tragic turn, and helpless children are being hurt over and over.
Who am I to think I have troubles? And who am I to think I live in a vacuum, and I shouldn't reach out and help? I have so much, and I have the added benefit of knowing the Lord. And he says we are supposed to be happy because of that fact.
So what does the Bible say should make us happy? I decided to look and see.
The first one I thought of was this one:
Psalm 127: 3-5 "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. HAPPY is the man that hath his quiver full of them."
Psalm 113:9 "He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise the Lord."
Okay, I've got that one covered. What do I have to complain about?
Here's a few more:
1 Timothy 6:6 & 8 "But godliness with contentment is great gain...if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that."
Just food and clothes? What about a house? What about a reliable car? A bigger TV and nicer furniture...?
Some other things I found that we should be happy with:
1 Corinthians 13:6 the truth
Psalm 89:15 walking in God's light
Psalm 16:6 our godly heritage
Galatians 5 even tells us that being joyful is one of the fruits of the Spirit. Can we have the Spirit of God, and not be joyful?
Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice!
How simple is that?
The Lord is my strength and my song; he has given me victory. This is my God, and I will praise him—my father’s God, and I will exalt him!
Exodus 15:1-3
So take the words of my little boy as your motto! The simple things are all the reason we need to be happy:
Food and clothes, our salvation, and sometimes, we can throw in a couple of birds for a birthday present:
SMILE
LOVE LOVE LOVE this post!!!!! What a blessing to me today! Thank you!!
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