Divine Happiness

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13

I have about five Instagram influencers I follow that I like to watch their stories every day. I look forward to their hilarity and the things they suggest I buy. They make me feel happy and convince me that the things I purchase that they suggest makes me happy, too.

Or, at least I thought it made me happy.

This whole, “living through a history-making moment” has stripped us of a lot of things. Plans canceled. Dreams put on hold. Families separated. One thing I am thankful for is the stripping of influencers.

We were looking to influencers to satisfy our happiness. While I don’t necessarily think this is wrong (it’s okay that other people bring your life a little happy), they should not be our source.

All of a sudden, what we thought brought us happiness became empty. Even the influencers felt it. They would get on to do their thing and all of a sudden, they didn’t know what to say. Selling us something didn’t feel right. Telling us how to put our make-up on a certain way to look our best didn’t make sense anymore. Their influence lost it’s power because we were stripped of all the filters. We could finally see that these things, while all well and good, do not bring us life.

We are learning where we want to be influenced. This stripping has awakened us in a way we didn’t realize we needed, but were desperate for. We’ve all been stripped of all our filters and we are surviving. We are not only surviving, but we are thriving. We are seeing ourselves, our true selves, for the first time in a long time and we’re kind of digging it.

In this space, this crazy time, we have the privilege to ask ourselves, “Who/What is influencing me?” No longer to we feel that pull to but, filter, contour our lives. Instead, we are looking for a deeper more meaningful approach to living.

I was sitting on my couch thinking about all this as the sun rose. We have huge windows in our front room. I love watching the clouds move and flow as the sun rises. Something about the sky re-centers my focus back to Jesus. I’ve been given the opportunity in this season to re-center my gaze. My hope and prayer for all of us is that we get back to the true influencer in our lives. Let’s fix our gaze upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. That’s where we will find true happiness: divine happiness.

“…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

Love & Blessings,

Meg