When I look around today and see all that is before me, I wonder why people seem so unhappy. Why aren’t we happy?
Disney used to have a clear and simple vision statement—“Make People Happy.” They did this by creating environments and objects that cause people to find a moment of fun, to enjoy life for a short time. Disney allowed people to experience a time when they could be removed from the day-to-day stuff and just have some fun. But having fun isn’t the same as being happy.
There is a time and a place for having fun, but fun will come and go. You can visit Disney, but you cannot live at Disney. Eventually you will have to go back to your life at home. To be happy is to learn to live life in a way that brings you contentment in any circumstance of life. Fun can visit, but Happiness wants to come and stay.
Being happy is not an emotion; it is a state of being. If it takes things like a cake and candles and a surprise visit to the place you’ve always wanted to visit, and fun wishes from all the people who know and love you for you to have a happy birthday, there is a great chance you will never have a happy birthday.
Riding a roller coaster is not a fun thing to me, though you may love it. Being a happy person is what makes for a happy birthday. Being a happy person is what makes the cake special. Being a happy person is what makes fun things fun.
So, what is happy?
Happiness is being content with your life no matter where your life is now. Being happy is keeping your wants from determining if you are happy. Being happy is to define your circumstances with your life rather than to let your life be determined by your circumstances.
God speaks to us about being happy. In 2 Chronicles 9, the Queen of Sheba pays a visit to King Solomon. She had heard of his wisdom and fame, so she came to see for herself if all that she heard was true. When she had seen all that Solomon had accomplished, she said, “Happy are these your servants, who stand before you continually to hear your wisdom.” (2 Chronicles 9:7)
So, what did she see in these people to describe them as happy? They didn’t have roller coasters to thrill them. They didn’t have movies to entertain them. They had work and lots of it, yet she saw that they were happy. What should we look for in ourselves and others to know if we are happy?
Well, we will see people who are satisfied with what they have more than they are discontent with not having what they want. What’s more,
- we will see people satisfied with what they get to do more than they are discontent with what they must do;
- we will see people pleased that they know someone more than they want others to know them;
- we will see people who live through what lives in others;
- we will see people who find being a friend is more important than having friends;
- we will find people better at controlling themselves than they are at controlling others;
- we will find people who find possibilities for good more than they find fault; and
- we will find people living a great day in the middle of what others would find to be a bad day.
The kid’s nursery rhyme says, “If you are happy and you know it, clap your hands.” God’s spiritual rhyme might say this, “Happy is the life that needs nothing but to stand before and to live daily and continually before the Love of God hearing the wisdom of His plan for how we ought to live.”
If you are happy and you know it, your life will really show it. If you are happy and you know it, just say Amen.
Live a Delivered Life. Love you.
Live Delivered 