A Hap Addiction

May 6, 2010 | No comments yet

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By:  Staci Stallings

You probably know by now that I have a Latin root addiction.  The more of these I learn, the cooler God gets!

Here’s one I just learned:  hap

Do you know what a “hap” is?  Maybe you don’t, but I’ll be willing to bet you have a hap addiction.

I’ve known people with a hap addiction.  I’ve BEEN a person with a hap addiction!

Let’s play a little English game for a minute.  “Hap” is the root word in several words you know:  happening, happenstance, happen, happy, happiness, unhappiness…

So what does “hap” mean anyway?

Hap for wont of a better way to say it, is an event in your life.  It is what “happens” to you.

Hap was understood to mean “fates, chance, fortune.”  Haps are really under no one’s control.  They just “happen.”

You have a wreck.  That’s a hap.  You get a raise.  That’s a hap.  You fall down and twist your knee.  That’s a hap.  Your son scores the winning run in baseball.  That’s a hap.

You have a million haps a day.  Each moment is another hap.

Now, some haps are considered good–getting a raise, scoring the winning run, getting an A on the test.  Some haps are considered bad–having a wreck, twisting your knee, losing your job.  But the reality is, that all of these are just “haps.”  They are all just things in your life that “happen.”

Here’s where this gets scary.

Do you have a hap addiction?

If you want to be “happy,” you probably do.

That’s because “happiness” comes to you when the haps in your life are all basically good.  When the haps are all basically bad, you become “unhappy.”

But the haps are not set up to be good or bad.  They just happen.

When you tie your well-being to haps, you’re emotional life is going to be all over the map.  And if your emotions are tied to your spirit, your mind, and your physical self, YOU will be all over the map.

One day, when the haps line up in your favor, you are happy.  Life is good.  Your spirit is good.  Your mind and your physical self are good.

But what happens when the haps go against you?  Do you get moody and grumpy?  Do you whine and complain?  Do you take it out on other people?  Do you over-eat, drink, or do drugs to dull the pain of a hap?

If so, then you have a hap issue.

The answer to a hap issue or a hap addiction is to get away from thinking that your “happiness” is tied to what “happens” in your life!

Joy comes when God is in control no matter what happens. Peace comes when you recognize that some haps are going to be good, some will be bad, but God supersedes all of them.  Power comes when no matter what happens, you affirm that God can handle it and you’re okay.

Understanding this and practicing it can unchain you from unhappiness faster than any other thing you can do.

God is in control.  Yes, things will happen, but they are not in control of me.

If they are, I’m in big trouble.

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