Be Happy

  BE HAPPY

by Gale Ashcroft  

     One Sunday Annie’s teacher held up a picture of Jesus, sitting on a hillside, teaching the people. Annie’s teacher told the class that Jesus made our world and everything in it, the animals, the trees and flowers, and even the mountains and the oceans. Then she said, "Jesus is our big brother and he loves us very much.  Do you think Jesus wants us to be happy?"
     All the children in the class said yes.
     Annie’s teacher told her class that this was a picture of one time when Jesus was teaching the people how to be happy. She said he was teaching them to do some things called the Beatitudes, things that would make them be happy. One of the Beatitudes was to be a peacemaker.  "Does anyone know what being a peacemaker is?" she asked.
     The children didn’t, so the teacher explained that being a peacemaker meant that you tried to help other people be happy.  "The best part about being a peacemaker is that when you help other people be happy, it makes you happy too, Annie's teacher explained.   "Sometimes people forget how to be happy, though, but the animals and creatures that Jesus made don’t forget."
     Then their teacher took them on a walk outside to help them see some of the creatures.
     As they walked out of the door of the church, right away they saw a fly, buzzing around a tree. The teacher told them to listen to the fly. It said "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz."  "Do you know what it sounds like it’s saying? Be Happppppppppppppppppyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyzzzzzzzzzz."
     The children laughed and tried to say "Be Happy" like a fly.
     Then they looked up in a tree. There was a cute little bird sitting on a branch. The bird was chirping, cheep, cheep. Cheep cheep. "Do you know what that sounds like to me?" asked the teacher. "Be happy, Be happy."
     The children found a little tiny lady bug, climbing on a blade of crass in the yard. They couldn’t hear anything it said, but the teacher smiled at them and said,  "Look how pretty and bright this lady bug is. Even though I can’t hear what she is saying, I can see how cheerful she looks, and I know she is saying, be Happy, Be Happy!"
     As the children were walking back to the church door they found a little toad, hiding behind a rock. It bounded away when it saw them, and as it bounced the teacher asked, "What does it look like it’s saying?"     
     The children all laughed and said, "Be happy, Be happy".
     When they got back into the class the teacher told them, "Remember the birds and the frogs and the bugs, even the mice and the kittens and the bunnies. All the things that Jesus created for us will help us to remember that Jesus wants us to be happy. And you can help other people remember, too. When you help people remember to be happy, you are being a peacemaker like Jesus wants you to be."
     Annie thought about being a peacemaker as she drove home with her family. She wanted to help other people be happy, just like the animals and birds, and bugs. When they got out of the car, she saw her mom looking kind of sad. She was sniffing and holding her forehead. Annie wondered if mom was getting a cold. When they walked in the house Mom saw the game that Tim and Tommy had left scattered all around the front room where they had been playing before church. She was very upset.
     "Why don’t you boys ever clean things up?" she exclaimed! "You put this game away right now!"
     Annie followed mom into the kitchen, and saw her sniff the air, then run over to the stove. She opened it, and exclaimed, "Oh, no! I forgot to turn the oven on!" Then she went and sat down in a chair and laid her head in her arms on the table. She started to sneeze.
     "Poor mom", thought Annie.  "She is really not happy now."
     When Annie got a Kleenex from the box, she noticed the gold fish, swimming around in his bowl on the counter. She couldn’t hear him say anything, but she saw his mouth open and shut, and she could imagine what he was saying. "Be happy, be happy."
     Annie ran up to her mother and put her arms around her. "Here’s a Kleenex, mom," Annie said as she pushed the Kleenex into her moms hand. "Why don’t you go lie down on the couch, it will make you feel better." Annie took her mom’s hand and tried to pull her up.
     "I can’t, Annie," mom said sadly. "I have to fix something for us to eat for supper since the roast isn’t cooked."
     "Daddy can help me make sandwiches," Annie said, as she pulled mom out of her chair. "You come lie down."
     Reluctantly, mom let Annie pull her into the living room and lay down on the couch.
     "I’ll take off your shoes for you," said Annie, as she pulled off her mother’s Sunday shoes. She started to put them on the floor, then she remembered that her mother didn’t want the house to be a mess, so she took them with her upstairs to her mom’s bedroom and put them in the closet.
     Daddy was still in the bedroom, hanging up his tie. He looked kind of cross. "He’s probably unhappy that dinner isn’t ready," thought Annie.
     She looked out the window, and there in the tree outside she saw a blue bird, singing a song. It sure sounded like he was singing, "Be Happy, Be Happy".   Annie smiled and turned to daddy. "Daddy, mommy has a cold I think." She said. "Could you help me make some sandwiches for our supper, so she can rest?"
     Daddy looked at Annie in surprise for a minute, then he grinned and said, "What a good idea. Let’s go!"
     Together Annie and daddy made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Then, while daddy poured the milk, Annie went to get her big brothers. They were still in the front room. The game wasn’t picked up at all, and they were arguing over who made the most mess and should pick it up. Annie thought they looked just like dogs, barking at each other. It didn’t sound like they were saying "Be Happy, Be Happy," but she knew that a real dog might say it. So she went into the front room and said, "Tim and Tommy, we are ready to eat dinner. Would you like me to help you put away the game so we can eat it now?"
     Tim and Tommy looked at Annie in surprise. She started picking up the pieces of the game for them, and after a while, they began to pick up a few too. Then they all went into the kitchen to eat dinner.
     That night Daddy tucked Annie into bed because mommy still wasn’t feeling very good. He sat down on the bed and gave her a kiss. Then he said, "Annie, thank you for being such a good girl today. You sure did help us out."
     Annie smiled. "I was trying to help you be happy, like Jesus wants us to be," she said. "My teacher called that being a peacemaker."
     "Well, you were a really good peacemaker today!" Daddy told her. "And it did make me be happy, for sure. Thank you sweetheart."
     Annie smiled some more. "You know what, Daddy. It made me happy, too."