The Secret to Happiness

There is a secret to being happy.    It isn't free health care, free college, free lunches, free houses, or anything politicians try to tell you will make you happy.  The secret to happiness isn't in money, things, or even in great power.  The secret to happiness is being content.  Personally, I believe if more of us subscribed to contentment, it cold help improve the lives of people everywhere.  Happiness isn't found just in Christianity, although I believe it goes a long way to making a difference. 
Though I profess Christ, and live for my faith,  the happiness that comes from contentment isn't in Christ either. I've seen too many people live happily without a faith in Christ to make it a prerequisite for happiness. At the same time I've seen far too many Christians living lives devoid of contentment, and wracked with despair.  So, why am I writing about the secret to happiness in a blog dedicated to a profession in Jesus Christ?
The answer to that question is simple; I don't want to see my brothers and sisters in Christ looking for happiness in places that will not bring them any joy. 
If you use a clinical description of happiness, you will discover it is fleeting in it's duration, but so powerful in it's force, that it makes everyone of us seek to be happy for but just a moment.  Happiness is such a powerful emotion we look for ways to induce it.  Within this need for happiness is the root of almost all of our addictions.  Our bodies betray us because the 'high' from being happy is like nothing else we experience. The need to be happy whether through artificial means, or through natural means, can lead us into the depths of despair if we aren't careful.  That doesn't mean our need for happiness is completely destructive.  The 'arts' are born out of happiness.  Games, comedies, jokes, hobbies, and yes, even storytelling in its many varied forms are a means to happiness.  Sadly, the flood of hormones that accompanies true happiness is limited in its ability to be sustained for long periods of time. The greatest sorrow is when we live our lives in search of happiness instead of yielding to the joy found in every moment.  When jobs, marriages, homes, cars, and the accessories of life become the driving force for satisfaction we miss the moments within ourselves that bring true happiness.  This opens the door for disappointment, sorrow, and grief, which are far more easily sustained. Somehow, in the rush for a new 'happy' high, we leave the real source of happiness behind.  This is true whether we are rich or poor, Christian or non-Christian.  When contentment eludes us, happiness quickly flees. 
Over my lifetime I've seen great men and women of God become lost and empty vessels devoid of joy, peace or happiness.  Christians can easily be fooled into believing that a ministry, study, or even a cause will bring them happiness.  Ministries can push you beyond your purpose in Christ into fears of failure fueled by the minister's comparison of their life with those of more successful ministries. People who feel bible study, or the search for spiritual truth can bring  happiness often fail to discover that happiness, allowing the study itself to rob them of the joy found in living in the joy of the moment.  Probably the worst thief of happiness among Christians is the need to defend their faith or advance that faith into secular causes.  I've seen too many good Christians become enslaved to the angrier side of their passions to the point they hate the very people God has called us to reach.
Happiness is found in being content with forgiveness, and forgiving.  This is the simple power we all carry within us, but it is the springboard for more joy than you can contain.  So much of what I'm seeing in the news media today is driven by a failure to forgive, and let go.  Then again, I know we can become consumed by our passions to the point where happiness is driven far from us.  Political, cultural, religious, and ethnic diversity are important things when it comes to aligning ourselves in tribes. Belonging to a tribe can be a great source of joy and happiness, but if we allow them to exclude us from tolerance, and contentment,  they can suck the happiness out of our lives.  You hear a lot these days about 'diversity' but it seems the more diverse we attempt to be as a nation, the more unhappy we become.  Diversity robs us of happiness by building walls of 'difference,' and before you know it, you don't have the happiness that comes from tolerating people who are different from you.  "Intersectionality" is a word you hear a lot about lately because of the 'diversity' craze.  It's the moment when the goals of one 'diverse' group conflicts with the goals of another.  Someday, when the dust settles from this crazy need to be unique, we'll wonder how we allowed ourselves to be so overcome with the celebration of diversity. Instead of celebrating our humanity, we become obsessed with defending our uniqueness.  At one point or another 'diversity' will bring you into conflict with another diverse person.  This is why I said that many Christians aren't happy.  Tolerance, which is simply forgiving another person for being different from you, is rarely practiced among denominations.  It's the result of hundreds of years of conditioning, and is often based on tribalism, and in that alone, the fear of losing a unique identity. 
Contentment speaks of true faith.  I've seen it in the lives of those in foreign countries less prosperous than the United States.  I've seen happiness in children's laughter everywhere I've been.  That is why I can say that happiness isn't found in things, money, or power.  Happiness is found in any moment you choose to savor and enjoy.   I see it in my simple enjoyment of the sparrows that are carrying on outside my front door.  I don't know why it brings me so much joy to look out my storm door and watch the antics of these tiny little creatures who inhabit my front yard.  All I know is that they bring a smile to my face, which is usually a clue that I'm happy.  It won't last for long, I'll have to close the door because it's getting colder, and they'll have to carry on without my observing them, but they will carry on.  That brings another smile to my face. 

AT PEACE WITH YOURSELF

I read a lot.  Not as much as I used to, (As a child, I used to read cereal boxes in the morning before heading out for the day).  Now, I read enough to stay current, and informed.  Being a reader makes it hard for me to take the time to write, even though I love to write.  I don't write as much as I used to, because my work schedule is not suited to it right now.  Now, if someone wanted to pay me to write....but, that could get old quick.
For those who've taken the time to read my past blogs, you know this blog is all about being at peace with God, others, and yourself.  Being at peace is something people have a hard time with right now.  Politically, socially, and even spiritually, people seem to be in turmoil.  People seem to be conflicted about their culture, gender, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, and a thousand things to which the media is able to spin you up about.  Some things make me snicker when I read them, and others make me shake my head in disbelief.  For example, I still haven't figured out what cultural appropriation is all about. I have a good friend whose home is decorated in minimalist Japanese style. Her husband was stationed in Japan during the late fifties and sixties, and she fell in love with the culture.  After her husband died, she decided to keep her home as it was in honor of his memory.  Why is that 'wrong'?  I also have another 'white' friend who loves blues music from the 20's and 30's.  Is it wrong to enjoy, collect, and submerge yourself in another culture?  Do you have to denounce your 'ethnicity' to enjoy the expressions of another race's culture?  Why is it offensive for 'white' people to enjoy the clothing, foods, and cultural trapping of another culture? These are questions I've been asking every time I read an article about 'white privilege.'  So, added to the many things we are in turmoil about, white people must now experience the angst of being 'white.'
I was saddened the other day by a headline in my news feed titled "Amy Schumer apologizes for being white."  Although the headline was misleading, (She actually was saying her last movie role would have been better suited to a woman of color), it is interesting that the subject was even broached.  It speaks to a deeper issue dealing with being comfortable in your own skin.  Now, of course this is easier said by a white male. 
Still, without being glib in any way, what are you going to do about who you are? 
YOU ARE WHAT YOU ARE.  No matter what others might think of you, or what you think about yourself, you are what you see in the mirror. Actually, it is sad to think that the only way we can make ourselves feel important is by demeaning someone else.  It is equally sad to think that race or culture can be used to crush, subjugate, or hold back those who are different.  However, the dialogue doesn't begin by denouncing your genetics. 
This thought was driven home to me as I read an article about Christianity being a 'white' religion.  It seems as if our universities and high schools are on a crusade to begin purging the world of 'white heterosexual, males, and more specifically Christian males.'  If Amy Schumer can feel guilty about her role not going to a woman of color, think about the implication for white males. 
This problem of dissatisfaction with who you are is not bound up in education, the media, or any other manifestation of our cultural dis-functionalism, it is because we have lost touch with the creator who made us.  It is God who gives us our real identity, and it isn't just 'white.'  Real Christians realize this.  Is there a problem here?  Yes, we have many people who call themselves Christians who have hijacked the faith and used it for their hateful spiteful purposes. When you are a real christian you won't have to apologize for who or what you are.  You also won't feel superior about who you are.  A life changing faith in Jesus Christ makes it impossible to judge yourself as greater than anyone else.
Sadly, many universities and high schools are beginning to teach racism, and cultural elitism in an effort to lift minority peoples up to some invisible bar of equality. 
THERE IS NO EQUALITY!  As a vertically challenged, elderly, white male, I am here to tell you there is no equality without pulling exceptional people down.  My genetics made me a male, Caucasian, of less than average height.  It would be foolish of me to demand equality.  What part of my genetics am I going to change?  No matter how much I could protest, lobby, or push for equality, someone somewhere is going to be born taller, faster, stronger, smarter, quicker, or anything else better than I am by genetics. That is the greatest quality about true Christianity, you can be the image of God no matter your race, culture, gender, or even religion.  This one truth about the the Judaeo-Christian value system is twisted and turned around by those who don't know the Word of God.  God made us all, filled us with the breath we breathe, and gave us one simple command; Love God, and love others. If you do this with all your heart, you won't have room for privilege, hatred, or any other expression of superiority. 
At the same time, I won't feel guilty about being white, nor will I be or feel privileged for it.  I won't curse my parents for 'knowing' each other at the right time or temperature to make me male.  I also won't curse them for passing on my mother's family genome of being short. 
Like the little sparrows who are busy enjoying this lovely spring weather, I will simply rest in the knowledge that I am infinitely loved by an infinite creator who loves everyone with an undying love.  I'm truly saddened for those who don't know this.  Find God, and you will find peace.