I'm Allergic!

Dear Dark Chocolate Truffles, (my favorite) Out here in northern Virginia the word “allergies” is about as common as the word “Vols”, the contracted version of the University of Virginia Volunteers. Anyway, there are all kinds of allergies in these parts however I have an allergy that some of you may have never, ever heard of. It’s an allergy to certain words. Let me be clear. I don’t have a phobia of certain words, I just can’t stand when people say certain words that make me feel…well, embarrassed, goofy, giggly, and astonished. Now I don’t have many and I’m certainly not going to share all of ‘em with you because I’ll never hear the end of it! But to prove a point I’m willing to share ONE of my instant allergic reactive words. The word is “whiskers”. I don’t mind seeing whiskers on anyone…hopefully not on a woman, but the word itself just drives me bonkers! I don’t know why but that word makes me blush, roll my eyes, and get that ridiculous smile on my face that I can’t get away from! Now don’t even pretend for one minute that you don’t have any goofy-isms in your private closet, I know who I’m writing too! I have a dear friend who passes gas over the phone and is proud about it! I have another really close friend who sniffs her fingers after rubbing them between her toes! That’s disgusting. Now that I’ve leveled the playing field having a word allergy doesn’t seem so terrible after all…who am I kidding?! I know I’m different and that’s alright with me. It seems that over the last 20 years or so there has been this reoccurring teaching that the word “happy” is a word allergy of the Christian church. Girls, it is not necessary to replace the word happy for the word “joy”. Both of these words are biblical! Let’s see what the Bible has to say about “Happy”! Proverbs 15:15 For the despondent, every day brings trouble; for the happy heart, life is a continual feast. Romans 12:15 Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. James 5:13 Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. Now I must mention that when I was studying for this lesson, I saw that when I looked in my exhaustive concordance under “happy” but then looked up the reference in my Bible sometimes the word “joy” was used. Teaching us that these words are interchangeable. The problem is when people are living they’re lives to be happy instead of living lives through Christ who is the source of our happiness! The focus is off that’s all. So, let’s refocus on Jesus and he’ll add the happy back in our vocabulary. Christians should be the happiest people on the planet! Let’s start acting like it and just maybe it will become a natural part of who we are. I want to close with the lyrics to one of my favorite songs from the movie Sister Act: “Oh Happy Day” Oh happy day, oh happy day When Jesus washed (3x), He washed my sins away He taught me how to walk, fight, and pray And in rejoicing every-every day Everyday! Oh happy day!!!!!! Amen! Have a happy week and I’ll write again next Friday! Love you all, Dede