By Pastor John Brito
Happiness is a choice. It isn?t something that happens to us or something achieved when conditions are right or when certain goals have been attained. Happiness is a choice, and you can start being happy today.
The decision to being happy starts with adopting two attitudes.
The first attitude is contentment:
Contentment is the key to happiness. Ecclesiastes 6:3-9 explains this principle. The passage reads as follows:
A man might have a hundred children and live to be very old. But if he finds no satisfaction in life and doesn?t even get a decent burial, it would have been better for him to be born dead.4?His birth would have been meaningless, and he would have ended in darkness. He wouldn?t even have had a name,5?and he would never have seen the sun or known of its existence. Yet he would have had more peace than in growing up to be an unhappy man.6?He might live a thousand years twice over but still not find contentment. And since he must die like everyone else?well, what?s the use?7?All people spend their lives scratching for food, but they never seem to have enough.8?So are wise people really better off than fools? Do poor people gain anything by being wise and knowing how to act in front of others?9?Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don?t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless?like chasing the wind. (NLT)
The writer tells us that even if someone had one hundred children and lived to be two thousand years old, (by the way, things that most people would love to achieve) and, yet, never finds satisfaction, that it would be better for that person to never have been born. Why? Because to live life without ever finding contentment is to live miserably.
We become miserable because we postpone happiness in our constant search for the next goal to be reached. We say to ourselves, ?When I finish my degree I?ll be happy.? Or, ?When we buy our first home I?ll be happy.? But we won?t be, because tying happiness to the fulfillment of goals places happiness beyond our grasp. Verse 7 tells us why: ?All people spend their lives scratching for food, but they never seem to have enough.? In the same way that we seek our next meal to live, we will always seek the next thing to make us happy. Thus happiness will forever elude us.
The secret to contentment is found in verse 9 that says, ?Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don?t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless?like chasing the wind.? Enjoy what you currently have. That?s it! Go ahead and set new goals, but enjoy what you have right now. Enjoy your family and the things that you have today. Enjoy where you?re at in life and the things that you have achieved. This is the key to happiness. This doesn?t mean that you can?t be ambitious. It simply means that happiness is tied to finding contentment in this present moment and not delaying it to some future achievement.
The second attitude is gratitude:
Gratitude is the key to being content. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, ?Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.? (ESV) Notice that it doesn?t say ?Give thanks for all circumstances, but ?in all circumstances.? Learn to be thankful for what God has given you, despite of everything else going on around you. Gratitude leads to contentment, and contentment leads to happiness.
Go ahead and count your blessings and thank God for each of them. Enjoy the people and the things that you currently have in life. Then make the choice to be happy this very day.
What about you?
What makes you happy? Let me know.
