Have you ever noticed that happiness does not necessarily relate to where one lives? We live in a mobile age. There are no boundaries to the possibilities of change in environment and circumstance for twenty-first century man. People move more freely and easily across international borders and around the world than previous generations moved to other villages or neighbourhoods.
If you summed it all up you would find that many are moving to and fro on the face of the earth seeking the elusive phantom of their vision of happiness. Free men seek the guarantee of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, as a basic bulwark of their freedom. But this guarantee does not necessarily justify the inordinate amount of time some seem to spend in a seemingly futile pursuit of that magic happiness that always seems just around the next bend in life’s road or over the crest of the next mountain of life’s struggle.
Those in the north move south and those in the south move north. Westerners tend to drift east and Easterners go west. Country people seek economic prosperity in the city as the urban dweller is drawn by the lure of what seems to be the simpler life promoted by the back to nature and back to your roots movements. All evidently feel that geographical, social or vocational relocation may finally place them in real contact with that mythical and ever elusive condition of true happiness.
Sad to say, the vast majority are often bitterly disappointed when they inevitably discover the truth that true happiness cannot be acquired in this manner. They realize as well that you cannot move away from your troubles. That old song about packing up your troubles in your old kit bag says it all. The baggage of one’s troubles always seems to be on the same plane or following along on a flight close behind.
In our day of easy divorce and government subsidized marriage breakdown, it is amazing how many people seem to think they can move on to a new relationship without the baggage of broken and failed relationships and all the emotional immaturity and instability involved in such unresolved conflict, following close behind them!
No, happiness does not necessarily relate to where one lives, what one does for a living or how much of this world’s goods one might accumulate. It is more a matter of why, how and with whom one lives. Those who find true happiness are pleasantly surprised to find that the abundant life is as mobile and universal as the person and presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said one purpose of His coming and His eternal existence is that our joy might be full. He did not speak of true happiness being found in the absence of trials, troubles and tribulations, but in the midst of them. He did not speak of happiness being characterized by the absence of the winds of adversity, but of His joy and peace being possible in the storms of life.
Joseph and Daniel found a life of true joy, happiness, fulfilment and the will of God, in the unlikely geography of a land of their captivity. We also need to truly understand that happiness is to know the Saviour and live a life within His favour. As an old children’s chorus said it, happiness is the Lord.
When all is said and done it must be admitted that one primary source of discontent and unhappiness in our lives may come from allowing the world to set our standards and priorities and define the condition of happiness for us. If we value those things the Lord values and seek first His Kingdom, His Peace, Joy and true happiness will be our real reward.
If you summed it all up you would find that many are moving to and fro on the face of the earth seeking the elusive phantom of their vision of happiness. Free men seek the guarantee of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, as a basic bulwark of their freedom. But this guarantee does not necessarily justify the inordinate amount of time some seem to spend in a seemingly futile pursuit of that magic happiness that always seems just around the next bend in life’s road or over the crest of the next mountain of life’s struggle.
Those in the north move south and those in the south move north. Westerners tend to drift east and Easterners go west. Country people seek economic prosperity in the city as the urban dweller is drawn by the lure of what seems to be the simpler life promoted by the back to nature and back to your roots movements. All evidently feel that geographical, social or vocational relocation may finally place them in real contact with that mythical and ever elusive condition of true happiness.
Sad to say, the vast majority are often bitterly disappointed when they inevitably discover the truth that true happiness cannot be acquired in this manner. They realize as well that you cannot move away from your troubles. That old song about packing up your troubles in your old kit bag says it all. The baggage of one’s troubles always seems to be on the same plane or following along on a flight close behind.
In our day of easy divorce and government subsidized marriage breakdown, it is amazing how many people seem to think they can move on to a new relationship without the baggage of broken and failed relationships and all the emotional immaturity and instability involved in such unresolved conflict, following close behind them!
No, happiness does not necessarily relate to where one lives, what one does for a living or how much of this world’s goods one might accumulate. It is more a matter of why, how and with whom one lives. Those who find true happiness are pleasantly surprised to find that the abundant life is as mobile and universal as the person and presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said one purpose of His coming and His eternal existence is that our joy might be full. He did not speak of true happiness being found in the absence of trials, troubles and tribulations, but in the midst of them. He did not speak of happiness being characterized by the absence of the winds of adversity, but of His joy and peace being possible in the storms of life.
Joseph and Daniel found a life of true joy, happiness, fulfilment and the will of God, in the unlikely geography of a land of their captivity. We also need to truly understand that happiness is to know the Saviour and live a life within His favour. As an old children’s chorus said it, happiness is the Lord.
When all is said and done it must be admitted that one primary source of discontent and unhappiness in our lives may come from allowing the world to set our standards and priorities and define the condition of happiness for us. If we value those things the Lord values and seek first His Kingdom, His Peace, Joy and true happiness will be our real reward.
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