We all need more Joy.

Ecclesiasticus 30

²¹ Do not abandon yourself to sorrow, do not torment yourself with brooding.

²² Gladness of heart is life to anyone; joy is what gives length of days.

²³ Give your cares the slip, console your heart, chase sorrow far away; for sorrow has been the ruin of many, and is no use to anybody.

²⁴ Jealousy and anger shorten your days, and worry brings premature old age.

²⁵ A genial heart makes a good trencherman, someone who enjoys a good meal.

Listen up, all you Goths and Emos, you Greasers and Beatnik poets.  Listen to me all of you nihilists and anarchists.  Let me give you a new vision, Hipsters.  Hear me out Gangsters who listen to rap, or a long time ago listened to what, Opera (I’m talking to the acolytes of Al Capone.)?  I've got a message for the people losing their minds because Obama didn't want to release his birth certificate.  Anybody have an ear to hear a message anybody who wants to impeach Obama or prosecute John Boehner.   If Fox News is a place for a bunch of RINOs, in your opinion, you may want to take heed. 

You NEED to be happy.  It’s here in the Apocrypha written by a Jesus who didn't die for your sins.  It’s actually in the other Bible, too.  Dennis Prager calls it a moral imperative and he’s right.  It’s also a spiritual imperative.  God want Joy.  It’s one of the fruits of the Spirit.  It makes the world a better place.  We’ll all like you more.  Now here are some made up statistics to help you all believe in the importance of being happy:

Happy people bathe more often.  (This is totally true when it comes to Hipsters, am I right?  *High five!  Goths and Emos, too.  You’re ripe, you morose little nincompoops.

Happy people get better jobs.  I know you’d like to be a gangster like 50 cent, but he got shot like a bunch of times and now that he’s insanely rich…well now he’ll happy all the time.

Happy people get better women.  Yes, I admit it.  Marilyn Manson married Evan Rachel Wood and Rose McGown and Dita Von Teese but do you wanna look like this...  

Happy people make others around them happier.  Happy people help others who work around them do better work.  Happy people are more capable with Katana Swords.  Happy people read more books but fewer by Sylvia Plath.  Happy people have more fun in the bedroom because…they’re happy?  Happy people absorb vitamin C better than saddies.  That’s why you should be sad. 

Am I promoting the idea that we should fight terrorism with happiness?  No.  I’m content to let happy people kill terrorists.  Am I saying that you should do anything to achieve momentary joy?  No.  Short term joys; sexual, leisure, culinary, etc. can often lead to more sadness later.  There is also the idea that short term Euphoria and long term satisfaction are different things.  I’m not comfortable classifying them as either happiness OR joy because I want to leave those to rhetorical flourish.  I simply understand as adults should that there is a difference between happiness found in another’s bed or in a candy bar isn't always making you happy, but it is only temporarily making you happy on your way to a sadness crash.    

So watch some of those annoying videos of people redoing their own version of Pharrell’s “Happy” song.  Yes it’s a stupid hat.  Roll with it.  Squeeze the earth and sucks its juices.  Make faces in the mirror.  Go eat a good meal in moderation but joyfulness.

I am not suggesting that there aren't world problems.  I’m not suggesting that we see those problems with rose colored glasses and not pay attention to the suffering in the world.  I'm not telling you to get over some real-world terrible stuff that has happened to you.  I'm saying be more joyful.  It's nigh impossible to argue that you've got enough. Tiger from Winnie the Pooh books has enough Joy.  And joy is contagious.  Joy breeds hope and that’s still, if I remember correctly, one of the three greatest things. Joy would or would help to make sure people do a better job of getting along.  There is of course monumental challenges in the world and America has a very polarized political system for handling those or some of those problems.  Joy may help.  Africa is war torn and disease torn and maybe joy would help and medical supplies and cooler heads.

I want more joy in the lives of the God-believing, God-fearing.  I want to have more joy about his word and his church.  I want my joy to translate into enthusiasm.  The church used to talk about inner joy.  We had songs like, "this little light of mine."  The world could see something different about us and it was joy.  Mormons still got it.  They have a sense of happiness in long-suffering.  I want that.  I want joy about my savior and I think you do to.  Cultivate it and achieve it.  We can compare notes on how and what kind of happiness you've been pursuing.