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fe·lic·i·ty/fəˈlisitē – noun

  1. Intense happiness.
  2. The ability to find appropriate expression for one’s thoughts.

Felicity.  Isn’t that just a happy sounding word?  Visions of laughter and dancing run through my head.

“Intense happiness”.  Big, bold happiness.  Falling in love happiness.  Having a baby happiness. Receiving good news happiness. The happiness that comes from a place of newfound contentedness in the soul.

Do we experience  felicity as often as we should or would like to?  Is it possible to experience more?

Jesus called us to a life of joy.  Not cheap, superficial happiness that comes and goes.  But deep, contented joy. Felicity.  The angels declared His birth as “good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”  His coming meant joy for all of us because with Him He brought love, forgiveness and salvation.  And with those came healing and new life.  Yeah, I’d say that’s something that could make a person experience felicity.

If I look at what Jesus did for me, what He offers me every single day of my life, I should be experiencing that “intense happiness” every time I take a breath.  Regardless of how my circumstances or surroundings change.  Regardless of how other people treat me.  Because my contentedness in Him is based solely on Him and what He’s done and not on the things of this life that can come and go.

The bliss of a newborn baby.  The joy of a new bride.  The beauty of a second chance.  These are all things that bring us felicity.  And they are all things that Jesus brought to us.

But felicity has a second meaning, too – “The ability to find appropriate expression for one’s thoughts”.  If I am experiencing the first meaning, I want to be able to live out the second, too.  I want to be able to express through my spoken words, my written words and my attitude towards life and others in ways that let others know that I have found my “felicity” in Jesus and that they can experience that, too.

Sometimes my love feels top big for words.  My joy way beyond verbiage.  And it should be.  Both of those should be so big that the only thing that can truly be an “appropriate expression for (my) thoughts” is my entire life. How I treat and interact with others.  How I face adversity.  How I handle conflict. Do those reflect a life that is experiencing “intense happiness”?

Today might be a “good” day.  But it could also go awry in terms of circumstances.  Either way, felicity can be mine.  Because I am walking with the One who made this day.  And I will “rejoice and be glad in it”…

Psalm 118:24 – This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

John 15:11 – I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

 

 


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