Thursday, August 27

Happiness can be such a shallow concept. We live in a country that supposedly believes in “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” But not all people believe that this is for all of us. Some livelihoods are poor at best. Some do not feel free to live a life of liberty and while many pursue happiness, not all achieve it. Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 6:17 that God … “richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” God gave us the world for our enjoyment, but here’s the problem: Some are so busy getting more that we don’t enjoy what we’ve got.

Instead of grasping for more, let’s pay attention to what we have right now. If you can read this, then you have a lot to be thankful for right now. There are a lot of people who cannot read much less have access to a computer. Let’s open our eyes and hearts and appreciate what God has already given us, and enjoy what we’ve got.

Maybe we need to ask ourselves, “What am I not enjoying right now?” Some of us might get into what I call “when and then” thinking: “When this happens, then I’ll be happy.” The truth is we are as happy as we choose to be. If we’re not happy now, we’re not going to be happy later. Happiness is a choice. True happiness has nothing to do with our circumstances, but everything to do with our attitude. As I said, happiness is a choice regardless. Let’s choose to enjoy what God has given us and let our happiness be a thank offering back to Him.