If you just decide to be happy, you can be...

    

The year was 2013, and Ezra was 8 years old.  Nothing monumental was happening when he blurted out "if you just decide to be happy, you can be".  Wait, stop...can you repeat that, Buddy, so I can write it down?  I'm going to need that later.

I want to be careful to point out that there are life circumstances and mental health crises and emotional difficulties that can and do prevent us from simply DECIDING to be happy.  I would never wish to discount those situations which can sometimes be debilitating, or, at the very least, overwhelming, and those realities are not at all what I am referring to here.

And yet...on most of the days, we really do get to decide.  For me, it goes like this...am I stressed out by the dishes piling up because our kitchen faucet is broken or relieved that a new one is coming in the mail today and I think I know how to replace it?  Is fixing dinner again tonight something that will put me over the edge, or am I grateful for the meat in our freezer and the gadgets in my kitchen?  Are the piles in our dining room from cleaning out my classroom enough to make me paralyzed or am I grateful for a new season of life and ten years of memories in a few wooden boxes?  Are the cups and bowls left on the end tables in the living room making me crazy, or am I just so thankful that our three boys enjoy each other and gathered there to eat last night, laughing and having fun?  Is the brokenness and turmoil in the world robbing my hope and joy, or can I console myself with thoughts of simply loving the circle around me and bringing hope and grace to the folks I am privileged to encounter?  Are health issues for me and my loved ones driving me to fear the worst, or can I take a deep breath and give thanks for modern medicine and the opportunities available for healing and wellness?

There are moments when the pain is too great, the fear too much, to decide to be happy.  But on many, if not most, of the days, I get to decide.  Thank you, eight-year-old Ezra, for teaching me that happy is a choice and it's nearly always available to us all.