An essay I wrote last week. Enjoy and God bless y'all! :)

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Everyone in this world, with little or much, has something that makes them happy. There are at least five major things that make me happy and I am going to state them.

First, one thing that makes me happy is discovering a good book. Not one of those “lousy” books that people have written in the last couple decades, but one of those wholesome, clean, and well-written books that people used to write. I’m not saying that all the authors writing in the 21st Century are writing lousy and detestable books—there are quite a large number of excellent authors writing noteworthy books now! But what I am trying to say is this—in my opinion, I think that as this generation and the next generation pass, readers and publishers of what they think are good books have been slowly letting go and letting themselves think that whatever they consider is a good book (in their opinion), is indeed a good book. Thus, instead of seeing dozens of books like ‘The Robe’ by Lloyd C. Douglas and ‘Lucy Winchester’ by Christmas Carol Kauffman lined up against your library’s bookshelves, you see dozens of copies of ‘Twilight’ and ‘Harry Potter’ lined up on your library’s bookshelves. And not only that, those types of books are in many peoples' hands too! Whenever I head to the library in search for an excellent book, almost every time I walk out of the library, I walk out with my hands empty and my spirit dampened. Then I realize that my search for a noteworthy book has come to no avail and all I have found is a single ‘Arthur and D.W.’ book for my little sister to read. This is what makes me happy—to find a thought-provoking book full of strong biblical values, a well thought-out plot, and of course, a well-written text. And those types of books are like gems and the only way to find a gem is to first plow through all the dirt. Another thing that makes me happy is reading God’s Word. It strengthens and encourages! Once, it felt like a chore to read it daily, but one day, something changed. From time to time, it would slip from my mind to read it for the day, (and that would be my fault because I had spent that time doing something else) and on those days, I remember that I had realized that something was different about that day. Maybe on that day, nothing inspired me, or I was snappier…I don’t know. But what I do know is that on that day, I could tell that something was missing. Therefore, that makes me happy—when I can get encouragement and answers from the Bible. My friends make me happy. They build me up, pray for me, and are true friends to me. While we are not perfect, they still love me and I love them. When one person is broken, the others try to put that other person back together. I remember times when I felt let down, bitter, and depressed. But then my friends tried to console me, gave me advice, but most of all, they prayed for me. And one other time, they even fasted with me. That meant and still means a great deal to me. So, that also makes me happy—that I am blessed to have a number of true friends that build me up and pray for me. A fourth thing makes me happy is my family. We are close. Our time at the dinner table is my favorite time of the day. That is the time when daddy is home, and we can relate all of the day’s happening to him. We laugh a lot too. My family is very important to me and I don’t know what I would do without mommy or daddy or my sisters. When I was the only child, I used to be extremely lonely. In fact, I was so lonely that I talked to myself and pretended that my friends were there with me replying back to me. Other than my parents, I had no one to talk to, no one to play with, and no one to sleep with… But now, look how much my family has grown—four children in all (including myself)! Again, that is another thing that makes me happy—my family and the closeness we have together. The final thing that makes me happy is my garden. It used to be overflowing with weeds and we wouldn’t do much about them. We would just let them grow, overflow, die, and repeat the same cycle year after year. But now, I have Zinnias, Sunflowers, Hollyhocks, a Strawberry plant, and a few more varieties of other flowers sprouting up. But every gardener knows that if you want to produce some dazzling flowers, you must work hard. Pulling weeds, shooing those pesty little ants that eat up your sunflower plants, watering the plants daily, and getting your skirt muddy are not always fun. But as I watch those plants grow, I know it has been worth it. Thus, that is last thing that makes me happy –flowers that brighten this world and cheer people up. When I was given this assignment to write an essay about what makes me happy, my first thought was, “What does make me happy?” Then I had to sit down and think deeply about it. In the end, I chose to write about these five things that make me happy. I understand that a few people may not be able to think of anything that makes them happy, and I know that for others, it may be extremely easy to name many. I think because I was able to identify five things that make me happy and that there are many more things I can list--it proves that I am extremely blessed by God.