Happiness is dependent on our environment. It can’t exist unless we’re experiencing good circumstances in our life: things that “make” us happy, like success, prosperity, good health, a good marriage and family, maybe popularity. I’m sure you can think of the things that make you happy. And there’s nothing basically wrong with them. Happiness is, though, a dependent feeling. It’s conditional upon the presence of certain good things or the absence of pain and hurt.

It’s also transient. It comes and goes. A grandparent explained it this way: “I’m happy when I get to snuggle with my young grandchildren. After the snuggling is over, the happiness fades away. But I am always joyful that I have grandchildren, whether I am in their immediate proximity or not.”

That’s because joy, unlike happiness, is an attitude, not just an emotion.

The secret to joy, and rejoicing, is not to obsess about the circumstances of our life. Rather, look to Christ and what he has done for you and in you and through you. “Rejoice in the Lord”, Paul wrote in Philippians 4.

Joy is unaffected by our life’s circumstances – sometimes, it’s present despite our life’s circumstances! – even in defiance of them. Paul is at pains to point out that in situations when we would ordinarily be anxious or stressed, we can choose to focus on Christ, to be grateful, to connect with his presence – to rejoice.

It’s easy for our imagination to run riot with anxiety, even to the point of being obsessed by it. Some research has shown the causes of anxiety:

40% of anxiety is about things that will never happen; 30% relates to things about the past that can’t be changed; 12% is about criticism by others, mostly untrue; 10% of anxiety concerns our health, which gets worse with the stress; and 8% is about real problems that we will actually face.

(A netfriend)