Circle of Trust

From Qsource 1.5….

The culture often uses Joy and Happiness interchangeably, but they are actually very different things. Happiness is a transitory positive feeling governed by mere external circumstance. Happiness is a full belly–it goes away when you get hungry again.

In contrast, Joy is not so ephemeral. It is a permanent state of hopeful satisfaction that is unaffected by external happenstance. Joy cares not whether a man’s belly is full or empty. It requires a long view, well past the toils and triumphs of any given day. The HIM is a Joyful man under any and all circumstances because his vision is cast at a point well beyond the day before him. His focus is on the end and beyond.

What do Joy and Happiness have to do with marriage? Simple, a healthy and vital M is a lifetime pursuit. Anything designed to last a lifetime needs the pure fuel of Joy to grow and prosper. The short term warm and fuzzies of Happiness won’t do the trick. Happy-focused men give up on their marriages when the going is rocky because they are un-Happy. But the Joy-focused HIM views those same rough spots as the precise time to double-down on his Commitment to his bride.

Anybody can stay married on a full belly. But it is within the crucible of hunger where the true bond between man and wife is formed.

Marriage transforms a man from a selfish Happiness-junkie into a selfless Joy-seeker. The HIM knows if he fails at his M, nothing else he does will matter.