Joy vs. Happiness?

Are they the same thing? Is there a real difference? Does it make a difference? I think there is a difference and whether it makes a difference to you or not is your own decision. I think there is a real difference between what joy and happiness is and it is useful to understand the difference.

Let me use another analogy to explain what I believe the difference to be. If you are a parent you no doubt love your child(ren). That is something as a parent I felt from the moment we knew my wife was pregnant. That will never change. I will always love my children. Nothing can take that away. However, occasionally they have not made me happy. I still love them even though I may not be happy with them. See the paradox here? I love them even if at times I don't like them. Love and like are a lot like Joy and happiness. Love is like joy. Like is like happiness. Love and joy stay for a lifetime. Like and happiness come and go, sometimes several times a day.

You can fall out of like with someone. You can't fall out of love. That's why it is important to understand the difference between the two. Some confuse the two as the same when there is a world of difference. They are confused that because they may not like someone today, they have fallen out of love with them. In fact, you can experience deep love for someone even when you don't like what they are doing.

Getting back the the Joy vs. happiness conversation, I think the founding fathers of our country got it right when they described what we have come to refer to as "the American Dream" as "the pursuit of happiness." That is why the American Dream is a hopeless end. Happiness is fleeting, that is why it must be pursued. Know this, it will always outrun you. You may think you have captured happiness when you get that new house, until the roof leaks or the paint peels, then you have to run after happiness again.

Joy on the other hand is a destination. It is a place of being, it doesn't just run off. Even when i am grieving at the loss of a beloved niece, there is a joy in my heart that she is in the presence of the Lord. A real paradox for sure. I don't have to chase after joy, it is a place I choose to live.

Happiness I know will come and go. I enjoy it when it manages to run past me, but when it eventually runs on, I know it will be back. In the meantime I am sustained by joy.