Want To Be Happy?

Happiness is a choice. It's a feeling, an attitude and a mindset. When we lean into happiness there's a Beauty, Grace and Peace that bubbles.

I like to think that I'm, generally, a happy person even though there are times when I still fall prey to moments and seasons of sadness.

Happiness, after all, is a choice. Just like I can decide what I want to eat, where I want to go and who I want to hang around, I can choose my mood or attitude. I can choose happiness.

What I can't choose are my circumstances. Life happens and sometimes life hurts. Sometimes our days are dark, desperate and dry. Sometimes we lose. Sometimes we stumble. Sometimes we get lost. Any number of events can chip away at our happiness and impede our joy. Death. Poverty. Illness. Loneliness. Divorce. Failure. Crisis. Injury.

It's why we can't rely upon people, events and things to make us happy. They won't. People will let you down and leave you alone. Events can fall short of expectation, get cancelled or postponed. Things will rust, break, disappear and get stolen. When we put our faith in such stuff to make us happy, we're simply chasing highs. We're pursuing a feeling. We're running after ghosts.

Solomon called this type of living a "chasing after the wind." Happiness, as he discovered, couldn't be acquired, built or bought. True happiness comes from a JOY that bubbles deep inside a person's soul. Consequently, it's possible to be happy even when life is filled with pain and problems.

David Steindl-Rast, in a TedTalk I watched recently, shared a simple, yet profound, three-prong strategy for being a happier person.

STOP: If you want to be happy, learn to slow down. Americans love to pack their days and hours with stuff to do and places to go. Our vacations are so busy we often need a vacation from our vacation. Americans currently get 6.8 hours of sleep a night. That's more than an hour less than we used to get 50 years ago. We're so busy performing as human doings that we never experience the joy of living as a human being. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap.

LOOK: A lot of happiness is rooted to a life that's grateful. And that involves looking around to purposely thank God for what He is doing. It's more than just stopping to smell the roses. We need to thank the One who put those roses in our path. In recent years, I've worked hard to be more aware of what's happening around me. I'm finding there's much joy in the little things I used to overlook. The giggle of a child. The flight of a bird. The sound of wind through my wind chimes. The sweet taste of chocolate. The smell of mint, barbecue or rain. Even the ticking of a clock. Everything is a reminder that life is short and every moment is pregnant with possibility.

GO: Sometimes the most important thing we can do is move. Children already know this truth, but many adults have somehow forgotten it. In fact, some of the saddest people I know are homebound, either by choice or circumstance. They live inside their homes, imprisoned usually by their health or confined by their fears. All I know is when we no longer go outside "and play," that's the moment we start to grow old.

I hope today you'll choose to be happy. I hope you'll intentionally seek Joy and fuel that search with Gratitude. Be thankful for every moment you've got because someday you may wish you had this one back. In case you haven't noticed, you won't be any younger than this moment and this day.

Be HAPPY, my friends, and know that God IS working!

Blessings,
Pastor David