Happy Now: Let Playfulness Lift Your Load and Renew Your Spirit
It’s time to get serious about playfulness!
When was the last time you felt really, truly happy? If you’ve ever longed to leave your exhausting days and fretful nights behind, look no further. Courtney recounts a courageous—and often hilarious!—experiment in joy and delight as she awakens to the truth that God doesn’t just want us to be holy, but happy, too!

A whimsical storyteller who combines witty humor and engaging research with unfettered honesty, in Happy Now Courtney Ellis is a wise guide on an uplifting journey from sad to spirited. You’ll discover there is almost nothing that playfulness cannot make a little bit better, a little bit easier, and a lot more fun. Lift your mood, lighten your load, and renew your spirit with the power of playfulness.

Happy Now: Let Playfulness Lift Your Load and Renew Your Spirit is a rollicking, investigative, and thoughtful invitation to open ourselves to the joy and freedom of play all over again. It is designed to invite readers to let go of their most serious selves, grant them permission to engage in curiosity and wonder of all kinds, and delight in the release of its transformative effects: creativity, innovation, delight, rest, and—above all—a more trusting relationship with Jesus.

Through wry observations, firsthand experience, Scriptural study, and broad research, Ellis addresses questions like: How does God invite us into play? What does it mean that we are created for curiosity? In what ways can wonder help us love our neighbors more fully?

The world can be a serious place. Because of Jesus, Christians don’t need to be. Dive deeply into the waters of whimsy, embracing the joy God offers. Sometimes that looks like welcoming holy laughter. Other times it’s learning to see mistakes as learning and innovation rather than mess-making. Play brings about transformation and rest and praise. And isn’t that just the reason God created us?
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Happy Now: Let Playfulness Lift Your Load and Renew Your Spirit
It’s time to get serious about playfulness!
When was the last time you felt really, truly happy? If you’ve ever longed to leave your exhausting days and fretful nights behind, look no further. Courtney recounts a courageous—and often hilarious!—experiment in joy and delight as she awakens to the truth that God doesn’t just want us to be holy, but happy, too!

A whimsical storyteller who combines witty humor and engaging research with unfettered honesty, in Happy Now Courtney Ellis is a wise guide on an uplifting journey from sad to spirited. You’ll discover there is almost nothing that playfulness cannot make a little bit better, a little bit easier, and a lot more fun. Lift your mood, lighten your load, and renew your spirit with the power of playfulness.

Happy Now: Let Playfulness Lift Your Load and Renew Your Spirit is a rollicking, investigative, and thoughtful invitation to open ourselves to the joy and freedom of play all over again. It is designed to invite readers to let go of their most serious selves, grant them permission to engage in curiosity and wonder of all kinds, and delight in the release of its transformative effects: creativity, innovation, delight, rest, and—above all—a more trusting relationship with Jesus.

Through wry observations, firsthand experience, Scriptural study, and broad research, Ellis addresses questions like: How does God invite us into play? What does it mean that we are created for curiosity? In what ways can wonder help us love our neighbors more fully?

The world can be a serious place. Because of Jesus, Christians don’t need to be. Dive deeply into the waters of whimsy, embracing the joy God offers. Sometimes that looks like welcoming holy laughter. Other times it’s learning to see mistakes as learning and innovation rather than mess-making. Play brings about transformation and rest and praise. And isn’t that just the reason God created us?
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Happy Now: Let Playfulness Lift Your Load and Renew Your Spirit

Happy Now: Let Playfulness Lift Your Load and Renew Your Spirit

by Courtney Ellis
Happy Now: Let Playfulness Lift Your Load and Renew Your Spirit

Happy Now: Let Playfulness Lift Your Load and Renew Your Spirit

by Courtney Ellis

eBook

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Overview

It’s time to get serious about playfulness!
When was the last time you felt really, truly happy? If you’ve ever longed to leave your exhausting days and fretful nights behind, look no further. Courtney recounts a courageous—and often hilarious!—experiment in joy and delight as she awakens to the truth that God doesn’t just want us to be holy, but happy, too!

A whimsical storyteller who combines witty humor and engaging research with unfettered honesty, in Happy Now Courtney Ellis is a wise guide on an uplifting journey from sad to spirited. You’ll discover there is almost nothing that playfulness cannot make a little bit better, a little bit easier, and a lot more fun. Lift your mood, lighten your load, and renew your spirit with the power of playfulness.

Happy Now: Let Playfulness Lift Your Load and Renew Your Spirit is a rollicking, investigative, and thoughtful invitation to open ourselves to the joy and freedom of play all over again. It is designed to invite readers to let go of their most serious selves, grant them permission to engage in curiosity and wonder of all kinds, and delight in the release of its transformative effects: creativity, innovation, delight, rest, and—above all—a more trusting relationship with Jesus.

Through wry observations, firsthand experience, Scriptural study, and broad research, Ellis addresses questions like: How does God invite us into play? What does it mean that we are created for curiosity? In what ways can wonder help us love our neighbors more fully?

The world can be a serious place. Because of Jesus, Christians don’t need to be. Dive deeply into the waters of whimsy, embracing the joy God offers. Sometimes that looks like welcoming holy laughter. Other times it’s learning to see mistakes as learning and innovation rather than mess-making. Play brings about transformation and rest and praise. And isn’t that just the reason God created us?

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781649380159
Publisher: Rose Publishing
Publication date: 08/01/2021
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 256
File size: 7 MB

About the Author

Courtney Ellis graduated from Wheaton College, Loyola University of Chicago, and Princeton Theological Seminary. Before following God's call to ministry, she trained to be an English literature professor. She is currently a co-pastor with her husband at a Presbyterian church, where he is the brainiac and she is the storyteller. They reside in southern California with their two children. For more information, visit courtneybellis.com.

Courtney Ellis graduated from Wheaton College, Loyola University of Chicago, and Princeton Theological Seminary. Before following God's call to ministry, she trained to be an English literature professor. She is currently a co-pastor with her husband at a Presbyterian church, where he is the brainiac and she is the storyteller. They reside in southern California with their two children. For more information, visit courtneybellis.com.

Table of Contents

Foreword 13

A Note 15

Part I A Playful Solution to a Serious Problem 17

1 The Playfulness Key 19

2 Why So Serious? 31

3 Jazzy Jesus 53

Part II The 10 Invitations of Playfulness 63

1 Rest Well 67

2 Be a Kid Again 83

3 Connect 105

4 Improvise 121

5 Do Useless Things 131

6 Seek Adventure 151

7 Invest in Community 165

8 Play Small 181

9 Fail Regularly 193

10 Take Off Your Shoes 217

Epilogue 233

Acknowledgments 237

Notes 243

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