October 14, 2008

Be Happy

Frustrated by his independent fiancé, a middle aged man said, “Darn it! If you’d just do what I tell you to do you would be happy.” Even Paul in his discourse on marriage and remarriage said it was his judgment of a widow that “…she is happier if she stays as she is…” (1 Cor 7:40) It’s interesting that in our human nature we think we know what will make another person happy. The reality is that happiness can be so fleeting that from one year to the next even we don’t know what makes us happy.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Gail;
-----The Bible doesn’t diss happiness. I thought that a bit troubling when I was young, because I did diss it. I thought happiness was a bad thing, and joy was the whole goal. But somehow happiness is just little slices of joy taken in the moment. I have learned over my life that happiness gets messed up somewhat when the things of it become a goal. As desires, hopes, or even expectations (with the caveat that expecting something is not the same as requiring it) the things that cause us to be happy can be held in heart. But humility must be that looseness ready to allow them to receded somewhat from our heart’s grasp when it is inevitable they will not happen. What slips back into the storeroom of the heart can be quickly replaced by another interest for the time being, as long as we realize we are not confined to the moment, which is merely a slice of time, or controlled by the need for happiness, which is just a slice of joy.
Love,
Steve Corey