Elusive happiness

Read Matthew 6:31-33

31 “So don’t worry about these things,saying,’What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers,but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else,and live righteously,and he will give you everything you need. (NLT)

In one of his short stories,D.H. Lawrence describes the pursuit of happiness as like trying to pluck a flower from a crevice on the top of a cliff. It is just beyond your grasp. You risk falling off the cliff in your reaching for it. And when you do reach it,there is always another flower just beyond. You pluck flower after flower,but is never the flower.

If we seek happiness as a goal,then we will be frustrated. We will never quite get all we need to make us happy all the time. And we will also become very selfish: my pursuit of happiness becomes more important than my concern for your welfare. Happiness is a wonderful quality and it is natural to seek it. But more as a desire than a goal.

Our goal needs to be more along the lines of what Jesus speaks of in this text. We seek to please him,live out his values and priorities. Other things then fall into place. Focussing on those other things,and happiness is one such example,is to make them gods and idols.

Happiness best comes to us when we are preoccupied with something other than pursuing it. Chase after happiness and we may come up empty handed or plunge off that cliff described earlier. Chase after Jesus and let him grant us the happiness that is ours to have.

Blessings
David Reay