Happiness (part 2)
You shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. Psalm 128:2b
Happiness is due in part to right family relationships. No one who is paying attention can miss the evidence that family relationships in our stumbling Nation are in real mess. The issue is not just divorce (though that is a colossal problem) but our total lack of commitment as a society for correction.
When the home is right, the Nation will be right. Although we are not attempting to do so, reversing the order won’t work. Electing the right President (hoping at some point that becomes an option) or returning the United States Congress (undoubtedly an impossibility) to a organization focused on what is right and best for the people they represent, and providing for our National security, will not resolve the issue.
We are an unhappy people. Many people won’t work to provide for their family, and expect society to take their place. Those who do not know the sweetness of the provision that comes from one’s own labor struggle with happiness. Children who are left to their own devices, or whose parents are unwilling to say, “No,” never experience the happiness of obedience. Many parents have no idea what their children are listening to, watching, learning, or that in which they are willing or unwilling participants. Suffice it to say, “Fear of the Lord,” is not the first and last topic of the day.
It’s no wonder there is so much despair. The Government is out of control. The family is out of control. Our individual life is out of control and often the thought of better days is nostalgic rather than expectant.
The Psalmist said, “You shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.” He does not leave that to the vicissitudes of chance, but to very explicit instructions from the Creator and Sustainer of life.
Why would we ever think that we can design and manage our life, discover and live in happiness, succeed in accomplishing those things that really matter, all the while ignoring the Lord of Heaven who put us here, left us here, and instructed us how to live here? Yet we do! Saint and sinner alike, we wander along hoping to find happiness around the next corner, in the next job, with the next marriage, when our kids are finally gone from home (which by the way, never happens in most people’s experience), or when our “ship arrives.”
Selfcreation.com says, “Happiness is when I can say I feel good emotionally.”
Abraham Lincoln said, “Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
God said, “Happy is every one who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways.”
I say, “Pick one.”