I was writing notes for my devotionals the other day, and thanks to The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel, I came up with a happy and healthy theme.
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Happy and Healthy
Tag: happiness
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Ambition and Happiness
My wife and I have a cat that is perpetually seeking the perfect lap. She wants the person whose lap she occupies to have her undivided attention. Her goal is to rest on top of our arms so that we can’t do anything but pay attention to her. She has a disconnect between ambition and happiness.
The cat is rarely satisfied. She leaves our lap not because she is content, but because she has given up on having us submit to her desires.
A lot of us are like that. We want something that is just out of reach. We are convinced we won’t be happy until we achieve a goal. Our ambition drives us to discontentment if we aren’t careful.
I too have ambition and If I am not careful, I can allow it to put off happiness. I can be so focused on the future, I miss out on what good things are happening today. A quote by Dale Carnegie reminds me how foolish this can be.
“Many people think that if they were only in some other place, or had some other job, they would be happy. Well, that is doubtful. So get as much happiness out of what you are doing as you can and don’t put off being happy until some future date.”
Dale Carnegie
We can get too busy to have fun. We try to hustle today to make things happen for tomorrow. But what if we are missing out on today’s blessings?
Don’t postpone happiness! We can pursue goals and have ambitions without sacrificing today’s well-being.
- Count our blessings and write them down
- Have a conversation with a loved one
- If today is frustrating, ask “What does today make possible?”
- Go for a walk and take in some nature
It is good to have ambitions. But don’t forget we have today to enjoy as well.
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Wisdom Leads to Joy
To be wise is to learn what is important and what won’t matter in a few years. It is to be able to discern between the foolishness of short-term pleasure and long-term satisfaction. Wisdom leads to joy while foolishness leads to heartache and regret.
“Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding.”
Proverbs 3:13 (NLT)
Someone may know how to manipulate and get their way in the short term. But what happens to the relationship with the duped victim? Another person may give in to a short-term addiction only to discover it ruins their life. None of us can predict the future. But wisdom can help us shape our future in ways that are predictable and tested through the ages.
Yesterday, I was listening to How Now Shall We Live? by Chuck Colson. In the book, he writes what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they wrote this phrase in the United States Declaration of Independence:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
United States Declaration of Independence
Colson’s assertion is that this opening phrase was never meant to be a license to hedonistic pleasure. John Stonestreet from the Colson Center also alludes to this and quotes Colson on a July 4, 2019, podcast. “Happiness” was not meant as an excuse to do whatever feels good. Instead, happiness comes from living a virtuous, wise life.
Wisdom causes us to pursue virtue. That pursuit leads to joy. My hope and prayer for everyone are that we take a long-term approach to life and pursue a wise life of virtue that leads to happiness and joy.
A glad heart makes a happy face; a broken heart crushes the spirit.
Proverbs 15:13 NLT
Today, it may be easy for you to think of something that makes you glad. If so, take the time to consider it and feel the smile on your face return. If nothing else, hanging around, creative, silly kids will help. It will make a big difference to yourself and those around you.
Or today, you may be going through a tough time. Depending on your situation, it may be good to remind yourself that there are aspects of your life that make you glad. It could be your family, friends or work that brings you satisfaction.
But if your heart is broken today, I realize none of this will help. It takes time for a broken heart to heal. Give yourself grace and time to mourn. You will get through this eventually. When you hold on, you will find reasons to make your heart glad once again.
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Too Busy Having Fun
Can anyone achieve happiness through busy-ness? If you are too busy to remember what you did, is it happiness? If the busy time ends and discontent reappears, was it ever really happiness?
It reminds me of a proverb:
Laughter can conceal a heavy heart, but when the laughter ends, the grief remains. Proverbs 14:13 NLT
Diversion may work for a while, but if you are struggling with something major, get help.