The Short N Sweet Life of Mr. Butterfly

I like butterflies not just because they resemble from ugly-to-beautiful metamorphosis. I like them because in their short lives, they spread joy, beauty, and happiness to anyone who happen to see them. All in their sweet and simple little ways.
Warning: this is a long post full with words, so if you don't want to read the whole thing, just scroll down and see the pictures instead. Enjoy! I also had it published under www.divinecaroline.com sometime last year.

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!"

(Philippians 4:4)

Remember Pollyana?
I’m a firm believer that being happy is a good thing. It is my special way to show my love to God. Some people show their faith by reaching out, loving others, and doing good, like Mother Theresa. Some by doing little deeds with love, like St. Theresa, the Little Flower. Some, by contemplation and silence, like the monks. Other ways are by fasting, maintaining self-control, being an example to the young, praying, avoid greediness, going to Church, spiritual retreat, charity, loving your brothers and sisters, etc. All are good; all require hard work, good will, and perseverance to carry them out constantly.

Of course, I try to do all or a little bit of all the ways I know on how to show my love to God. But my special way, my special calling, my special mission, is by always striving to be happy.

Sounds fun and easy, right? It’s not like organizing charity ball, or giving alms to the poor, or teaching children under the bridge or praying rosary three times a day.

Well, think again.

Being happy, like any other ways to practice spirituality, is hard work.

It’s not easy to be happy when you’re lonely.
It’s not easy to be happy when the “love of your life” suddenly dumps you.
It’s not easy to be happy when you lose a job.
It’s not easy to be happy when you are in an abusive relationship.

It’s not easy to be happy and content when you have no money and you know for a fact that your nasty, bitchy, cheating, but beautiful co-worker can spends thousands on a LV bag because she has a rich “sugar-daddy-husband.”
It’s not easy to be happy when you’re being passed up for a salary increase or promotion.
It’s not easy to be happy when people around you are laughing merrily and you’re sitting in the corner feeling like an outcast.
It’s not easy to be happy when you feel that your career is going nowhere and your boss is a “devil wears prada.”

It’s not easy to be happy when your children are sick and your husband is out of a job. It’s not easy to be happy when the news constantly remind you how corrupt the politicians are, and how bleak the economic future will be, etc.
It’s not easy to be happy when the people around you, your family, friends, parents, spouses always put you down, being cynical, negative, pessimistic, and constantly criticize you—no matter how good their intention might be. (Sometimes, the one who can kill you fastest and with the most excruciating pain is the one whom you love most)

It’s not easy to be happy when you’re sick and alone and feel like no one cares whether you’re dead or alive.
It’s not easy to be happy when all you want to do is crawl under the cover and cry your heart out and then go to sleep and never wake up again because you feel so sad and alone and miserable and it seems like there’s no reason to live.
I am a Catholic, so I did a little research in Vatican’s Bible on-line, and found around 890-something verses in the Bible, in which God tells us to rejoice, to be glad, and to be happy. In my humble opinion, if the Almighty, Loving, and Magnificent God, who created Heaven and Earth and everything under the sun and the stars, took the trouble to say over 800 times that He wants His children to be happy, then He must really mean it!

God wants me to happy.
God wants me to strive to happy, in any circumstances.

Being happy in whatever circumstances He puts me in, meaning I trust Him wholeheartedly that He is my Father, Protector, Savior, and Provider. That He loves me and takes care of me. Even when I cannot feel His presence at all.

Being happy in whatever situation is being a light bearer in this world, being a testimony, a witness of God’s love, through the little and insignificant me.

Being happy no matter what is one of the most unselfish things I can do for people around me, because I don’t scatter poison of negativity nor complaints to my community. Because when I look happy even when I just want to roll out and die, people who love me won’t be sad for me nor worry about me, because they’ll think that I’m OK. Because by working hard to be happy, from time to time I find myself being an inspiration for others to also be happy.

And because you always look OK, people don’t offer to help you, instead they come to you for help because you look like you’re “free from the problems of the world”, when all you want to do is crying out loud “Help me! Please! Somebody, anybody, help me! I want to die!” And helping others is always good and make you feel better.

So, yes, you can show your love to God by being happy.
Yes, being happy is hard work.
Yes, being happy is an unselfish thing to do.

So I always strive to be happy. No matter what.

“I don’t buy in to the despair of this world.
I don’t see life as misery. No matter what.
So I celebrate. I celebrate God and His creation. I celebrate life.
And all the things it has to offer.”

Black top: unbranded. Black jacket: tailored. Butterfly skirt: Mark & Spencer. Shoes: Yongki Komaladi. Tosca blue bag: Stradivarius. Butterfly keychain: Warna MKG.

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