Why are you sad?

I came across a moving post on The Little Tortoise. When asking her son why he was sad, she received the reply “Because I’m not happy any more.”From the mouths of babes often come such profound words.

How often are we not happy, and can’t necessarily put our finger on why? Sadness is the absence of happiness. And happiness if fleeting.

In Christian circles it’s often talked about how we should not aim for happiness: but for joy. A joy that exists even in the bad times, even when we’re sad because we’re not happy any more.

It’s a joy that is born from hope. Hope in knowing that there’s more to life than what is happening to us right here, right now. It’s not easy, because we’re programmed to crave happiness. A joy, though more solid, is frowned upon. Because joy is not about us. It’s about something – Someone – bigger than our lives. Joy is about others, about giving, about receiving, about hoping, about loving.

We can be sad even in our joy. Because our happiness is not important.

But our joy is.