Happiness is God's Plan for Us (Spiritual Reflections on Deeper Dimensions of Life)

Every person in the world right from the king to the pauper, is looking for happiness. However, the manner in which they look for it may be different. The rich and the powerful usually seek happiness in their abundance. They look for it in material things like money, power, fame and pleasure. The poor man perhaps looks for happiness in his little home and in the limited things that he can afford. The quest for happiness is the quest of a life time. Unfortunately, many people take the wrong direction or trod on the wrong path. Consequently, they end up with momentary happiness. Experience has shown that material things do not guarantee real happiness. In fact, they only enslave a person and gradually rob him of even the little happiness he could have. True happiness comes from a life of love and service. It is God's will that we take this path so that we can enjoy everlasting happiness with him in heaven.

"Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present" (Jim Rohn).

When we think of happiness, there is no doubt that we would want it right here and now. Nobody postpones happiness for another day. Only a fool would let go happiness when it is possible to achieve. Every person in the world, right from the king to the pauper, is looking for happiness. However, the manner in which they look for it may be different. The rich and the powerful usually seek happiness in their abundance. They look for it in material things like money, power, fame and pleasure. The poor man perhaps looks for happiness in his little home and in the limited things that he can afford. The quest for happiness is the quest of a life time. Unfortunately, many people take the wrong direction or trod on the wrong path. Consequently, they end up with momentary happiness. Experience has shown that material things do not guarantee real happiness. In fact, they only enslave a person and gradually rob him of even the little happiness he could have.

Ironically, true happiness lies not in having but in detachment from anything material. St. Francis of Assisi discovered true happiness and freedom on the day he detached himself totally from earthly possessions, even from his own father. True and lasting happiness as Jesus teaches, comes from love and total self giving.

Who does not want happiness in life? Everything that we human beings do on Earth boils down to one basic need, the need for happiness. We are born to be happy but often we lose that happiness because we seek for it in wrong places, in unreliable things or we sacrifice it for transient commodities. I firmly believe that God has created everyone of us to be happy. However, happiness depends very much on our attitude to life and to persons and situations.

Happiness is a virtue that should be willingly and freely shared with everyone. When happiness is shared it is doubled and tripled. It is our own experience that whenever we share our happy moments with someone, we seem to be more happy in life. Buddha has righly said: "Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." Since hap- piness is so basic to a meaningful life, we need to spread it wherever we go. It is God's will that we do so. It does not cost us anything at all to share our happiness with others, especially with those who need it most.

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