Unfettered Happiness

(Disclaimer: I do not approach this subject as an expert in happiness. Sometimes, I think I am more of an expert in sadness. I, nevertheless would like to approach the subject or a few paragraphs.)

A child walks down the road toward home. It has been a good day at school with friends, the family is waiting, food will be served and after a walk with daddy and mommy tucks the sheets and places a gentle kiss there are sweet dreams until another bright shiny day comes.

That seems like happiness and it is to a certain extent, but it is the happiness of ignorance, the bliss of not knowing the realities of life. I find no fault in it for such should the life of a child be.

We know though that there is a snake in the grass beside the road. The food might make the child sick tonight and mommy will be up all night tending the child. Tomorrow will find the child in bed recovering and there will be no day of play with friends at school. The snake attacks her daddy while he mends the fence along side the road and does not make it to the hospital. Mommy is forced to leave the homestead because she cannot afford the mortgage and the remaining family must live in a rundown shack near town so Mommy can pick up ironing and other odd jobs.

Sorry, I had to do that to make a point. I like those moments of happiness but it is not the same happiness as there would be if there were no snake by the road or a sick stomach and bad dreams. We find some happiness in this life but it is like a rose among the thorns. We accept it, enjoy it then go off to deal with the thorns of life.

Unfettered happiness would be if there was no snake, if we knew that there would never again be a snake beside the road. Unfettered happiness would be if we knew that there would not be a mean person down the road with a sharp pin to burst our bubble. Imagine if only the feeling the child felt, as it walked down the road toward home, was the feeling that we felt with full knowledge that it would never, ever go away and that no one could or wanted to take it away.

I believe that is what it will be like in heaven when we, with full assurance, walk in the bliss of total safety and joy. I believe there is unfettered happiness to come for believers in Jesus Christ. And with that knowledge comes peace, something that we all seek in our lives.

"And ye now therefore have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." John 16:22