Happiness...

Hello friends,

We've all heard it before... "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". The famous quote from our founding fathers contains three of the most coveted freedoms in this life. But if we are being honest (which I hope we are)... we really care the most about the last one. After more than two centuries of 'pursuing happiness', shouldn't we have found it by now? We ought to be the happiest people in the word, but instead, as a whole, we are perhaps the most wealthy, most educated, unhappiest people on the planet. I've come to realize that may be because the above mentioned pursuit can be like chasing a greased pig, which, by the way... I've never actually done. The slimy porkers dash about promising the end result of happiness. Television, being the 'reality' that it is, tells us that the right toothpaste, the right gym shoes, and the right bottled water are the be-all-end-all to happiness. Of course we, being far smarter than that, know that if we can just find the right job, the right friends, and that special someone then we'll be happy. But, alas, we won't. Here's how I see it... the problem with the pursuit of happiness is that, much like the greased pig, the goal seemingly keeps moving. Today happiness may be found in those new baby blue Adidas, but tomorrow we may find it in the yellow jeep wrangler passing us to the left. Regardless of where we think we may find this elusive happiness, we've got the pursuit all wrong. We continue to chase fulfillment and satisfaction in places they will never be found. The baby blue Adidas may make my size 9 1/2 feet look like 7's, and that Jeep Wrangler may have been my dream car since the early age of 12.... but I'm not going to find my happiness there. Nor will I find it once I have the "Hilton lifestyle", or my own coffee shop, or the 'tall, dark and handsome' that has been in my dreams since before the Jeep. I know it may sound ridiculously cliche.... true happiness is found in the Lord. My pursuit ends with Christ. And, although don't really know a darn thing about our forefathers, I do know that in Christ we find life, liberty, and best of all... happiness.

The way I see it is that the endless pursuit of happiness will truly be endless until we place our hope in something greater than ourselves. In order to be lifted from the empty hole we have dug ourselves with our lofty dreams of grandeur, we must recognize the need for faith... the need for a Savior. And only in that recognition, only in that need, are we able catch ourselves on heck of a greased pig!!


In His Grip,
Tempa