Happy Things

The same edition of the Bible. 

People were laughing at me during Bible class this week.  I had a question, but I needed to refer to another passage -- a passage whose location I could not pin down.  Poor Pastor -- how can he answer a question comparing passages when I can't even tell him what they are?  "I can't find it.  I don't have the right Bible."  (That's why they poked fun at me.)

Is it my brain being weird?  Or do other people do this too?  I can find things easier in the Bible that I use frequently.  I might know that a verse in the psalms is about 1/3 of the way down the left-hand page, in the right column.  Or I might know that it's a verse in the 30's of one of the major prophets, and it's in the bottom right corner of the page. 

Hey, that makes it loads easier to find a passage I'm hunting!

The right Bible. 
The words are no different.
But because of its layout,
its fit with my brain is different.
And that makes me happy.

Happy Things

Wooden knitting needles.

The sound and feel is just luscious in comparison to metal ones.

Happy!

Happy Things

Good brakes.

I did NOT hit the deer tonight.  And the guy behind me reacted quickly enough that he didn't hit me.

I'm sure I left some doozy black tire-marks on the road, though.

A safe car.  With good brakes.  And an honest mechanic I trust. 

It makes me happy that I can rely on Chuck!



And on the subject of deer:
I need to use my brights more often.
And tell the kids to use theirs.
And at this time of year I need to follow people further back than usual.

Happy Things

This is the weirdest picture, ...
but how do you show a picture of somebody not using a hymnal??

It makes me happy to see people singing in church without needing a hymnal. 

My brother-in-law during the processional at his wedding.

The acolytes while they're extinguishing candles.


The elders who are carrying the pall to the coffin during the opening hymn of a funeral.

The 4-year-old who can't read yet.

The 20-something young lady from Indiana who transferred to our church, and several people asked me when they saw her singing on the way back from the communion rail, "Where did she learn all those hymns?"


I suspect the saints and angels in heaven do not use hymnbooks.  The books are necessary on earth.  But it's sweet when the words are so deep within us that we can freely sing from the heart.

Happy Things

A letter.

A real letter!

A few days before Jane started her blogging of HappyThings, Elva wrote me a letter.  I can't even describe how delightful it was to find a letter in the mail!

And yesterday, I came home from work to find a letter from my goddaughter.  Joy, oh joy!

(Idea:  I could write more letters, and pass along the joy!  Wouldn't that be fun?)

Happy Things

How can a simple fried egg be SO good?!

Egg.  From a happy chicken.  Cooked in a cast-iron skillet.  With a touch of sea salt and black pepper. 

Mmmm.  Hot, runny-yolked egg!

Happiness

Thesis: No one can be happy and contented in his life's work unless he is doing it to serve someone else (and not himself).



No matter how much we chase after making ourselves happy, we can never have enough.  It is only in sacrificing and giving that true happiness comes.  That's part of what it is to be made in the image of God.  And it's true whether you're a Christian or an atheist or a follower of some other religion.  It is simply a fact of life, like gravity.

Happy Things

Pictures taken by our friend Rachel.  (By the way, if anybody around here needs high school graduation pictures, Rachel is superb!)

Happy Things

Our reverse-osmosis filter had not been working.  For eight weeks, I was buying jugs of water every time I had reason to be in town.  The counter was constantly cluttered with water jugs, hogging space.



  See this guy?  He's smart figurer-outer.  Yup!

See this knobby thing that's part of our plumbing?  It's where the reverse-osmosis pipe exits the water pipes.  Something in there was plugged up.




Gary and I undid it.  We flushed the opening.  (In other words, we gave ourselves an unsolicited shower as water spurted out.)  We put it all back together.  It only took two or three tries before we made it work without leaking.

And now we have nice drinking water from the tap again.  Without repeatedly running into the grocery store to refill jugs!

Now, that's happy!

Happy Things

Turning into this driveway.

Sometimes after work, I head to church instead of heading home.  Maybe there's class.  Maybe there's choir practice.  Maybe some other activity.   It never feels like I've got One More Thing To Do before I go home. 

Turning into that driveway IS "going home." 

O Lord, I love habitation of Your house,
and the place where Your glory dwells. (Psalm 26)

Happy.

Happy Things

Reading to children.

Picture books. Chapter books. Old books.  Sometimes new books too.

There's something marvelous about reading aloud and enjoying a book together -- something far different from reading a story to yourself.

Hmmm. I should have a picture of me and Maggie reading together too.

Boy, if there were a way to earn a living reading books aloud to kids, I'd be all over it!

Happy.

Happy Things

My mother-in-law's measuring cups.

Reason #1: For 30+ years, I only had one set.  Boy, it's nice to have a spare so that cups don't have to be washed and dried and washed and dried repeatedly.

Reason #2:  They were the ones Gary had, growing up.

Sometimes Pastor uses the analogy of treasuring things that belonged to our forefathers, such as eating holiday dinners off Grandma's china.  He talks about how that can show we loved and honored the person who gave these things to us.  I always feel guilty when he says that ... and miss the point of the analogy while my mind is wandering.  We (like so many others in America) are overloaded with stuff.  And sometimes, material goods (no matter how pretty, no matter how many wonderful memories, no matter how old) can become a burden.  If the treasures don't fit into my house and my life, I cannot treasure them.  And that makes me feel terribly unappreciative.

So, anyway, it's funny to me how much these measuring cups make me happy.  I love their shape.  I love their feel.  I love how nicely they scoop.  I love their history.

Happy.

Happy Things

Pretty dishes.

Not only are they cheery, but they drip-dry super-fast in the dish-drainer.  I can let them air-dry and put them away 30-60 minutes later.

And they're relatively light-weight and easy to carry and lift into the cupboard.

Happy!

Happy Things

Going out for a beer after choir. 

Now and then, several of us go to a nearby bar/restaurant and talk and laugh.  Last night, instead of beer, I got a Captain Morgan and Coke.  It was the Wednesday special and was cheap.  Mmmm.

Happy time.  Happy tastebuds.

Happy Things

Mitford.

I love these books.  This woman is a fabulous author.  Nothing hard and ugly.  But neither is it unrealistic.  Just nice stories.  I'm glad there are so many in the series.

I hadn't stayed up reading past midnight in years.  And she pulled me right in.

Happy.

Happy Things

A visit from a friend I see, oh, about once a year or less since we moved.

I squealed and bounced up and down when her email arrived, asking about a visit.

(Oh, and then Pastor went and talked during Bible class --which she attended-- about how the love of Jesus unites us, and makes those friendships-in-the-Lord so dear and special, like there's never a disruption, even when years pass between visits.)

And I love it that she always suggests playing a hymn and singing together before she leaves.

Happy!

Happy Things

This is the bestest crucifix in the whole wide world.

It used to be by the pulpit.  I wish it were still there.  But it remains in the room that's used for Bible class. 

Happy memories.
Happy saints.
Happy angels.
Lovely doctrine.

Happy Things

Tomatoes on a sandwich.
GARDEN tomatoes, not store ones.
A specialty usually confined to August and September.

Only three small tomatoes remain on my window sill.  And they were picked green and have ripened indoors.  Still, they are GARDEN tomatoes.

Happy sandwiches!

Happy Things

As I've been thinking about "things that make me happy," I'm pondering the distinction between happy/contentment, or happy/thankful, or happy/joyful.  Maybe it's just a silly little hang-up in my own mind, but "happy" seems more, uh...., giddy than other kinds of joy.  And I can see where some of the things that are most important to me, the things that bring the most contentment, the things are the most valuable, might not necessarily be the things that make me "happy" ... because I take them for granted. 

That doesn't mean I don't appreciate them!  It just means that I am accustomed to having them in my life, and they don't necessarily excite because I am comfortable with them. 

I don't know if that is good or bad.

Happy Things

Curls.

I wish there were more!  But hooray for the ones God's allowed me to have.

Happy curls.