Matthew 6:33 (NKJV) But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
What do we consider happiness to be? Are we thinking happiness is the physical stuff we collect? Do we think when we get the home of our dreams we will be happy? When we get the car we will be happy; our social status, perhaps? Or is it that we have to be friends with the “in crowd.” Is it our dream job with the “title” to go along with it? A lot of us go with the notion that when we accomplish “certain things” it will make us happy but I have news for all of us who may think that way. The more we accomplish our earthly dreams, the more we will want. Happiness will always evade us if we think on the physical rather than number 1,( being us), if we do not deal with our inner being (our minds and heart). As soon as the euphoria from our accomplishments “die” and our excitement grows quiet, we will once again be back to square one; needing something else to put us back into that state of our “perceived” happiness. Sound a bit like narcotic drugs (if you ask me) and we know how far we need to stay away from those things!
I can attest to all of the above as this was my reality, I could never remain in a happy state, I was an emotional roller coaster. It also spilled over into my life, it affected my self esteem, unknowingly, because the fact that I could never be consistently happy was a mystery to me. So I could only think that something was wrong with me.
As I grew in my spiritual walk I realized that true happiness comes from God not in our daily accomplishments and the physical things we acquire. I realized that when I shifted the focus from me, me & me and surrendered to God’s working in my life, I started to feel peace which translated into me being okay. I realized that, before everything, God took priority and that was when happiness stayed with me. The passage in the bible that speaks to not storing up treasures here on earth but that we should store up heavenly treasures became more real to me and had meaning. Treasures such as love and being there for others, becoming unselfish, realizing that the people around me are being affected by my emotional roller coaster living and so much more. When I started storing up heavenly treasures, happiness stayed.
I no longer had to “work” to be happy. It became second nature. Like a second skin, it did not leave me. I no longer had to be constantly working on keeping myself happy, that is not the kind of life God wants of his children.
I also realized that our lives will become the way that they should, that things will fall in place without much exertion on our part. The house, the car, the right Godly friends. We do not need to work so hard to be happy, something that requires so much effort on our part, God can give us (happiness) in an instant. He told us to seek him first then all things will be added unto us. What more do we need? Life can become so easy for us. It’s not a myth or a far–fetched ideology, it is TRUTH, and I am experiencing that right now. I am not suggesting for a minute that our lives will become a walk in the park. Absolutely not! But we will receive grace to handle whatever our situation will be. We will be more equipped to handle the challenges. Our happiness will take over and we will remain full of joy even in the darkest of valleys. Happiness is more than the physical it has to do with our inner being and what meaningful contribution we are making to others lives.
No more roller coaster living for me!!!
