I was listening to a podcast at work the other day about being happy and what happiness means. Usually, when you think of happiness, you think of people or things that make you feel good.These people or things make your life better. Without them, you would be depressed—your world would look a lot more gray, boring, hopeless. If you are a Christian, happiness looks different. Or, it’s supposed to, anyway. A lot of us who have grown up in Christian homes have been taught that happiness is dependent on worldly things. In fact, we were taught that Christians aren’t supposed to be happy. God didn’t intend for life to be easy or guarantee us happiness. Our source of happiness really isn’t happiness, it should be joy that fills our hearts. Joy is a more spiritual-sounding emotion. After all, the source of joy comes from God. The speaker on the podcast surprised me, however, by saying that this is not very good theology. She went on to say that our God is a happy God. He wants us to be happy, and he blesses us to give us happiness. In fact, the Greek word Makarios, which is found in the New Testament, means to be blessed or happy.

While it isn’t wrong to be a happy Christian, it is worse to be “happy clappy.” Happy Clappy Christians don’t want others to believe that there is sin or deep struggles in their lives. They seem to have this unrealistic idea that Christ expects perfection from us, because he is perfect. And so, they pretend. They make believe that on the outside they are perfect and their world is perfect. They try very hard to create the illusion that everything is going wonderfully, when in reality their lives are crumbling. Pretending to be happy is, of course, not true happiness. But if you’re not happy, should you pretend to be so? Perhaps true happiness doesn’t exist.

But there is true happiness. As the speaker on the podcast reminded me, our God is a happy God. And while it’s true that he does not guarantee that we will always be happy or times will always be easy, he does promise that he will always be with us. Through the hard times, there are nuggets of blessings if you look for them. There is happiness to be found in the simplest of things. For me, I find happiness just snuggling with my kitty or enjoying a walk through the woods. Others find small nuggets of happiness in a warm cup of coffee or a nice afternoon nap. The point is, we don’t have to be Happy Clappy Christians. We don’t have to pretend to be happy when in we’re miserable. God understands our times of sadness, and he would rather not be lied to. Still, we can take comfort in the fact that God is not out to make our lives miserable. He wants us to enjoy life and watch out for the blessings he sends us along the way.