Happiness

Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness. These are the three unalienable rights "guaranteed" to us right in the beginning of the Declaration of Independence. I put guaranteed in quotes only because the degree of which we are able to carry these out is more or less debatable, but I digress. It is interesting that the big FF's (founding fathers) included the "pursuit of happiness" in the rather exclusive V.I.P. list of what it meant to declare independence. Hmm. Where the heck did Jefferson get this from??

Well, upon pondering this question, I decided to use my skills as a student to research and uncover the mysteries of this part of our nation's Declaration of Independence. Aka, I typed it in Google, and the first source seemed pretty legit. (It even had sources cited... I trust it.) In this article, I learned that when Jefferson wrote about the pursuit of happiness, it wasn't the first time someone had brought up this phrase (at least that's what Carol Hamilton argues). Instead, it is suggested that in 1690 our dear friend from the pages of many a history book, John Locke, wrote in an essay, "The necessity of pursuing happiness is the foundation of liberty." I found that very interesting. So, essentially, freedom is equivocated with chasing after happiness.

I guess the next question I was confronted with is: what is happiness? It is an age-old question that has left even the world's most successful people scrambling for an answer. How can we chase something we can't even identify? We're like Ponce de Leon perpetually searching for the fountain of youth that may or may not exist. What do we do when we don't understand something? Pretend we do, naturally. As a culture we have made up our own guidelines as to what exactly happiness is. Happiness is doing whatever you want to do. Happiness is making the most money. Happiness is seeking pleasure. Happiness is watching all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls and devouring a two-pound bar of chocolate. Well, if that's what happiness is, why are we so unhappy? America should be the happiest place on Earth! (Sorry Disney World, I'm expanding your claim to fame.) But are we happy?

Hmmm. Okay, so maybe this "pursuit of happiness" John Locke talks about has become a little muddled across the years. In my own experience, I have come to realize that the only true happiness actually goes by a different name: joy. If you don't know what I mean, let me explain. Joy is that deep feeling of peace and contentment you experience that can only come from God. Wow. I'm not very good at explaining it. Have you ever been happy and felt like nothing could shake it? That's joy. Ever see a sunset or sunrise or pass through beautiful landscape and you can't help but smile because it's so beautiful? That's joy. Joy is a gift. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and it is more genuine than any sort of sugar high or adrenaline rush.

On the topic of happiness, I have to say, I agree with François-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận who so eloquently states in his book The Road of Hope, "This is the secret of happiness: to have but one will with God." God wills to give us joy through the Holy Spirit. To be of the same will of God is not only to accept His trials, but to accept His joy.

Unfortunately, there is no way I can convince modern America of this truth. Our society is plagued with a false perception of happiness. I don't know what Jefferson foresaw when he included "the pursuit of happiness" in the unalienable rights, but I have a feeling he wouldn't like what he saw in today's society. We think we are pursuing happiness, but in actuality, the things we pursue are a dead end. The U.S. was intended to be one nation, under GOD. Our society will never be happy until it recognizes that we remain under God. We are not God.

As Blessed Mother Teresa once said, “God doesn't require us to succeed, he only requires that you try.” I think that it is about time we actually tried to pursue genuine happiness by unifying our own will with God's. It is then that we will find true joy. 

Learn from the words of a modern saint

Pictures from:
www.peterbroderick.com
blessingsdivine.wordpress.com

Thirsty for Christ

Today is a Thursday. To me, that means I get to relax a little bit. I don't have class on Fridays, so Thursday is my day to unwind for the weekend. Maybe visit a friend or read a book. Basically just lay low. For many of my peers, however, Thursday holds a different meaning. If any of you are familiar with college students, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about. Yes, Thirsty Thursday.

What is Thirsty Thursday? Well, apparently, after a long week of tough classes and serious business, a large percentage of college kids get really thirsty for alcohol and rowdy behavior around this time of the week. "Wow, what a culturally rich tradition,"you might say. Yeah, not so much. I'm not really into that.

The sad thing is, I have been there though. And it's not just a fun time of unwinding from the week.

I look at my fellow brothers and sisters stumbling around, and I feel myself getting angry. Do they not realize how beautiful their lives are?! Do they not know what they are doing to themselves?

They indeed are thirsty.

They are not thirsty for jello shots or Bud Light. They are thirsty for the blood of Christ.

"but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.
Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
John 4:14

Deep in their hearts, God has placed a desire. A desire to be loved by Him. But they don't know that. What they know is that they feel a longing to be loved, a desire to feel wanted, included. For women, a desire to be told they are beautiful.

I see these women who really do look beautiful. They spend hours doing their makeup, their hair, picking out an outfit. All of this time is spent so that when they go out, someone will notice them. They are searching for this affirmation that, yes, they are beautiful. And maybe someone will want them. Alcohol will make them feel more fun, braver. A guy will tell them how attractive they are, or dance with them, or take things further.

But they don't think about what they're really doing. All they know is when someone tells them they are beautiful, they feel good. When guys look at them, they feel important, special. When a man touches them, they feel loved.

But it is momentary.

The next morning, they are bitter. Tired. Broken.

If only they knew how beautiful God made them to be. If only they knew how intimately God knows them. If only they realized how much God loves them. If only they knew another way of life. If only they understood why they are hurting.

If only.

Tonight, I am distressed, because these are my sisters. I wish I could show them God's love, but I just don't know how. The need is so great, and I am so imperfect.

We live in a thirsty culture, a culture thirsty for love.

All I can do is pray. I pray because there is hope. I know there is hope, because I am sitting here writing this right now. God turned my life around, and I know I have a lot of people to thank who have been out there praying for me along the way. So, if you know of anyone who is caught in this deathtrap, please join me in praying for them. Pray with all of your might, because these people need God. They are dehydrated and weak. They have an unquenchable thirst for something they have never encountered. Their hearts yearn for more than cheap liquor and sexual flippancy.

They were made to be loved.

Protagonist of the World

Right now I am reading the book Crazy Love by Francis Chan (AWESOME BOOK!!). In it, Chan describes the history of the world as a movie, and the main character is God. In this "movie" of life, we are only extras, not even supporting characters. Our significance to the main plot is extremely puny. One blink and you miss us. But we were put in this movie for a reason (the extras are necessary in movies, otherwise they wouldn't be paid to appear...). I really like this analogy. A lot. Here's why.

First of all, Chan talks about how dumb it would be if you were an extra in a movie and you invited all of your friends to "come see this movie about yourself." Your friends would maybe see the back of your head. Maybe they would miss you altogether. They would probably think you were an idiot for thinking that a movie you barely appeared in was about you. Don't you think that would be pretty arrogant? Uhhh, duh! Well, I hate to burst your bubble if you have been living in self-obsession, but that's kind of the way life works too. Believe it or not, life is NOT about you. Shocked? Don't be. It's just common sense. The history of the earth goes back billions of years. And trillions of people have lived on it over that period of time. Your life doesn't really mean much when you look at it like that.

The world doesn't revolve around you. Get it? 

But don't get depressed about your life just yet! Let me just remind you, that though you might be an extra in this movie, you are still necessary. You were chosen to walk past the camera for that half a second for a reason! Without extras in a movie, it would be a pretty terrible movie... more like a soap opera or something. You are there to set the scene, to call attention to the main character (that's God, remember?). But the thing about that is, you're not supposed to call attention to yourself. This is where I personally tend to mess up.

I was just thinking about this today. I seem to think that I am running my own little movie right now and not getting the big picture. Continuing this "movie of life" analogy, right now everyone is trying to have their own subplots, even though they are just extras, not focusing on the main point of life (...God). No wonder there is so much confusion and distractions! How can anybody figure out what the purpose and focus of life is if everybody thinks it is about themselves! We are doing a terrible job of fulfilling our role. Instead of pointing attention to God and just playing our part as God intended, we are in the background waving our hands shouting, "Look at me! Look at me!" All this does is create chaos and distractions, because no matter how hard we try, the world will NEVER revolve around us. Never. Ever.

The thing is, we all see ourselves as the protagonists of our own lives, and we think that everybody else should want to know all about us because we are so interesting and awesome. Yes, we are all unique, but who made that so? God. Yes, we all have different situations, different sufferings, different glory stories to share. But who gave them all to us? God. While it's okay to talk about these things (it's good to share and talk to people, I'm not saying that's bad at all!), we just need to keep that from being the FOCUS of our lives. Simply put, we could all use a dose of humility. (Check out the Litany of Humility on the bottom of the PRAY page here on my blog!) Seriously. Francis Chan really called me out on my own arrogance as I was reading his book, and I can't imagine that I'm the only one with this problem.

Putting Christ at the center of our lives means to stop putting ourselves in the spotlight and point all of the glory and honor towards God, the real protagonist and hero of the world. The King and Savior.

To put in perspective how worthy God is as the center of not only your life, but of every single living, breathing person, watch this video:

Do you know Him? If you do, adore Him for His crazy love. Step out of the spotlight, put God at the center, and give Him the glory He deserves.