What is the secret to a happy life?
How do we find the meaningfulness that will bring us the joy we long for? We have been told that "the way to be happy is to make others happy". We need to be careful about that piece of advice. There is a seed of truth in it that the wise can discern. On the other hand it suggests a kind of shallow approach to living that risks our viability as persons.It is not our job in life "to make others happy".
Despite everything we have been told in this respect, it is important to understand that one's happiness is one's own responsibility.
We find happiness when we find our true purpose for living. All of us are challenged to do everything we can to make our world better. The efforts we make in this regard are like water in a desert place. Those efforts go toward quenching the parched places in which unproductive lives are lived. We find our way to the oasis of a wonderful and fruitful life when we dedicate ourselves to a life of service. Service, as unglamorous as it sounds, is the way to individual fulfillment.
Opportunities to serve are everywhere around us... From the simplest tasks to the most complex occupations. Some tasks we get paid for, others we are rewarded for by a sense that we have done what is good and right in a given circumstance.
The wisdom we should not ignore
Blessed is the man [1]
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law [2] of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
4 The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish. (ESV)
In the search for happiness there is wise counsel that must not be ignored. That wisdom is laid out in Psalm One - laid out above. Stay away from wicked people. Do not keep their company. Do not follow their advice. Do not sit where they sit. Do not walk where they walk. Don't think like them. Don't talk like them. Do not listen to them.
There is a way that is about righteousness.
Find that path and walk in it. Walk with those who trod therein. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not covet that which belongs to another. Follow these Laws and live. Scorn them and you will be "like the trash being blown around in the wind..." Nothing you do shall prosper.
Many are the voices that will try to convince you otherwise, but they are just a part of the clutter of a vain existence. These voices will be in your ears constantly... Take my advice ...turn off the noise.
