Happiness, what is it? It is a fuzzy concept and can mean many things to many people. One psychologist, Martin Seligman, gave five things that seems to cause happiness, they are 1. Pleasure (tasty foods, warm baths, etc.), 2.Engagement (or flow, the absorption of an enjoyed yet challenging activity), 3.Relationships (social ties have turned out to be extremely reliable indicator of happiness), 4. Meaning, (a perceived quest, or belonging to something bigger) 5. Accomplishments, (having realized tangible goals). One last study is how religion relates to happiness. It’s funny how they say that people who go to church and believe in God are happier but they won’t admit it has anything to do with God, only that they are more likely to be in a social surrounding with people of like beliefs! Oh well, or as my daughter would say, “what ev”. We all want to be happy and sometimes the things that surround us just are not conducive to happiness, so we have to find that happy place in our own mind and spirit to go when we need a feeling of peace. I can’t make you any happier than you can make me, but I can tell you that you have to have less worries, 1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you. Also we know Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Matthew 18:19-20 “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” If we talk about it, agree on it, God hears and, it may be delayed, but it will come. From Psalm 108 “Cover the whole earth with your glory! And for the sake of the one you love so much, reach down and help me—answer me!” I pray as the Psalmist King prayed, God help me! I say that many times every day. I can say “Jesus is coming soon” until I am blue in the face, I can call myself a “Watchman on the wall” and have a name tag made with that title on it, but unless the people I am talking to believe me, I am wasting my breath, however, Ezekiel 3:17-19 says something very important to us, “Son of man, I’ve made you a watchman for the family of Israel. Whenever you hear me say something, warn them for me. If I say to the wicked, ‘You are going to die,’ and you don’t sound the alarm warning them that it’s a matter of life or death, they will die and it will be your fault. I’ll hold you responsible. But if you warn the wicked and they keep right on sinning anyway, they’ll most certainly die for their sin, but you won’t die. You’ll have saved your life.” When a person is warned you have done your job, but I would admonish you to do it in love, else you will not be heard, at all. God is love and to show Him, we have to represent that quality, not easy, I know, but necessary. It isn’t a sin to be depressed or unhappy, and a lot of us don’t just have an excuse but a valid reason for being that way, I’m just trying to “holler” at you from the Wall and ask you to give it all to Him. A song says “Give it all, give it all to Jesus, shattered dreams, wounded hearts, broken toys, Give them all to Jesus and He will turn your sorrows into Joys.”
I can’t guarantee your happiness but I will agree with you in prayer, have happy thoughts with me!
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