Bazaar United Methodist Church

Bazaar, Kansas

Happiness Is More than a Warm Puppy

I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. Ecclesiastes 3:12

If you were not here on Wednesday evening, so that you missed the first sermon in our series on happiness, there are copies on the table in the Narthex. You need to pick one up and read it. You missed some important stuff. But very quickly, what I urged people to do to improve their level of happiness, was to practice two things during Lent: 1) to give up whining and complaining and 2) to write down at the end of every day five things for which they are grateful. Acknowledging that we will list some things more than once, at least we will stop taking things and people for granted for which we are genuinely grateful. And we will develop an attitude of gratitude. These are first steps in becoming happier people.

God desires for us to be happy and contented. Do you think Jesus was unhappy as he walked the face of the earth? His first miracle was at a party! Granted, his mother sort of pushed him into it, but he was already at the party! And he'd been there long enough that they had run out of wine. Jesus liked to have a good time. The children liked to be with Jesus. Kids don't just hang around sour-puss people. They like to be with those who are funny and up-beat; with those who genuinely care about them. Kids can always tell.

Happiness is more a process than a place. It is determined more by our state of mind than by our external circumstances. This is why we constantly seek the mind of Christ. Psychologists tend to define happiness as "subjective well-being." "It is about how people evaluate their lives and what is important to them." It is true that our subjective well-being is somewhat influenced by our objective circumstances, by what is happening in our lives but, more importantly, it depends on what we think and how we feel about those circumstances. "Happiness is an ongoing process that requires a way of experiencing life and the world that includes positive attitudes, meaning, and spirituality."

When I was in college to become a Speech/Language Pathologist, they showed us a video of a woman who had been a Thalidomide baby. She was born without arms. She had been willing to demonstrate, on camera, how she was able to dress herself, feed herself, clean vegetables at the kitchen sink, wash dishes, drive a car. She told a story of a neighborhood boy who had been watching her one day and she asked him what he was doing. He replied, "Just watching for ladies with no arms." "Have you seen many?" "No, just you." She had an advanced university degree but I don't remember what kind of work she did. I do remember that during the interview they asked her how much she thought she might have accomplished without her disability. Her response was that she was afraid that if things had come easily for her she might have been lazy and accomplished far less than she was capable of doing. This woman was upbeat and cheerful. She saw her disability as something that spurred her on to greater heights.

The author of Ecclesiastes says, "I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live." (Ecclesiastes 3:12) Long before Jesus, long before modern psychology, this author knew the truth. Genuine happiness requires a focus outside ourselves. So many people think that trying to be happy means that I am focusing on myself and that is not the "Christian" thing to do. But multiple surveys have shown that "it is unhappy people who tend to be most self-focused and are often socially withdrawn, brooding, and even antagonistic. Happy people, in contrast, are generally found to be more sociable, flexible, and creative and are able to tolerate life's daily frustrations more easily than unhappy people. And most important they are found to be more loving and forgiving than unhappy people."

Isn't that interesting? Happy people are more loving and forgiving. Sounds like Jesus' kind of people to me. They are more likely to reach out to others socially, more likely to be flexible and creative, more able to tolerate daily frustrations. I think I want to be happy. Happiness that is stable and persistent is not something that is achieved when we are strictly self-focused. Which is exactly what the author of Ecclesiastes told us. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. So is doing good really important for our happiness? Doing good for others? Why can't I just do good for me?

Well as we know from the story of David and Bathsheba, David tried that out. His doing good for himself led him into all kinds of trouble and actual evil. Doing good for others doesn't usually have that kind of consequence. What is more, doing good for others makes us feel good. I have taken two mission trips with youth. Now these were suburban youth. Most of them were not accustomed to really hard labor. But I watched 20 of them clean out all of the debris in a field about the size of a football field in about four hours. And they were as ecstatic about it as the church who needed it cleared, so they could plant a garden to help the people feed their families. This church expected that some of the work would be done, but they had no idea that all of it would be completed that day. They still expected to have hours and hours of work yet ahead of them clearing the field because it was so overgrown. But the youth were standing there saying "what can we do now?" They were so excited. It feels good to be able to help others.

You know that. Many of you have helped other people who really needed your help. Ask Marion and Roger who went to Mississippi how it felt to work on Carmen's house and help her get back into it again. You all provided our path and supplies. But they had the benefit of meeting the woman whose house we worked on-and she was a delightful lady; as were her neighbors.

This kind of happiness, the kind that stays with us through thick and thin, requires that which Jesus promised to give us. Peace. Jesus said, Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27) As we know Jesus did not exactly give us world peace. He gives peace of mind and heart. The greater our peace of mind, the greater our ability to enjoy a happy and joyful life. Peace of mind, as it comes from Christ, is obviously rooted in compassion and affection. It is not insensitive or apathetic. "There is a very high level of sensitivity and feeling. . ."

The compassion of Christ extended from the little children to the untouchables of his day, the lepers; from the Roman centurion to the woman caught in adultery; from the multitudes to the individual; from the ruler of the synagogue to the blind beggar. And his affection for his disciples and friends is apparent throughout the gospels. We, too, need to live out of just such compassion and affection. It is not always easy. Sometimes compassion is painful. Sometimes love hurts. But it is the only way to live happy and fulfilled lives; lives that have meaning and purpose that is beyond ourselves; that serve a higher calling. George Bernard Shaw once said, "This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one." He recognized what it takes to be fulfilled in life and to be happy and content.

For that to happen in our lives we must learn to have the mind of Christ. It is a mind that is calm and peaceful, full of compassion and sensitivity, knowing yourself and others and being respectful of all. It is a mind that is full of gratitude. The mind of Christ is One with God and One with neighbor. It is complete. Will most of us achieve it in this life? Maybe not, but our founder, John Wesley, thought that we should work toward it, pray for it daily and expect it now. What we are talking about the doctrine of Christian Perfection.

To be happy, contented people requires an attitude adjustment for most of us. Consider this:

Both the hummingbird and the vulture fly over our nation's deserts. All vultures see is rotting meat, because that is what they look for. They thrive on that diet. But hummingbirds ignore the smelly flesh of dead animals. Instead, they look for the colorful blossoms of desert plants. The vultures live on what was. They live on the past. They fill themselves with what is dead and gone. But hummingbirds live on what is. They seek new life. They fill themselves with freshness and life. Each bird finds what it is looking for. The fact is; we all do.

If we are determined to grumble, there is always plenty to grumble about in all of our lives. But if we decide that we want to be happy, positive people, then all we have to do is change our perspective and start looking for the good things in life. It doesn't hurt to take note of things we are thankful for during the day, as well as making our list of five things we are thankful for each night. And it's a really good thing to say "thank you" to the people you work with and live with; to remind them that they are important to you and that you love them (where that's appropriate).

Happiness is not a fluke. It's not something that some people get and others just don't. We can increase our happiness by living in harmony with God and neighbor. Practicing gratitude, being at peace, content with what we have and who we are. Seeking always to grow in the love and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.