When I was a kid—at some
point on the morning of Mother’s Day my mom would announce to me and my brother
and sisters. The one thing that would
make me happy today would be if you would all just behave yourselves. No
fighting—no arguing, no yelling, listening—cleaning up after yourselves. I don’t ever remember a Mother’s Day where we
were successful but that was her wish.
Happiness is certainly something that we as human
beings—hope for and maybe even strive
for--- to live happy lives .
Wanting to know more
about happiness and wanting to know what
people are saying about how to attain happiness I decided to google what are
the keys to happiness?
Guess what there are a
lot of ideas.
2.2 million ideas. Everyone seemed to have something say---Psychology
Today—The NY times And one that I read
from the Wanderlust worker-- “The 7 keys
to Happiness and success in life. [1]
“
As I read there were some
really good possibilities and even some with biblical precedent—---the first
they suggested—practicing gratitude—pretty good-gratitude is about recognizing
the positive, the abundances the goodness in our lives—Paul in Thessalonians talks
about the importance of give thanks in all situation—there is always something that
we can be thankful about---Corrie Ten Boom a Dutch woman who survived a
concentration camp spoke about giving thanks for the fleas in her bunkhouse—because
they kept the guards out of her bunkhouse and ultimately kept the guards from
raping the women there.
The second key was being
present—not living in the past or in the future but soaking up the moment--
paying attention to what’s going on right now.
Jesus talks in the Gospel of Matthew about not worrying about tomorrow
because tomorrow is going to have it’s own worries- but focusing on the
present. Third was about managing time effectively-- again roots in the bible-- sabbath keeping 6 days of working and one day of rest– the
idea having a good balance between work and rest that’s important to happiness—the
article then talks about having smart goals and having a good morning routine
and tackling the important tasks-- I am sure somewhere in the book of proverbs
about have goals and tackling the important tasks. Anyway, some good ideas.
The bible even has ideas
about how to be happy.
Don’t know if you noticed
but the Psalmist speaks about happiness in today’s Psalms—the very first words of the entire Psalter—150 psalms –is
happy-
Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the
wicked, *
nor lingered in the way of sinners,
nor sat in the seats of the scornful!
nor lingered in the way of sinners,
nor sat in the seats of the scornful!
Their delight—they
Psalmist says in is in the law of the Lord.
–their delight—their happiness is found when they follow God—when they
do as God directs -- those who delight in the law—the psalmist says are like
trees planted by streams of water.
This would have been a
powerful image for people of the desert like the Israelites— for us
here is the northeast trees can live anywhere because we regularly have water
that falls from the sky but in the
desert a tree to be lush and vibrant it needs to be planted near a source of water--- you can always tell where the water
is in the desert-cause that is where that is where the trees are—that’s where
the lush green-growth is that’s because they are tapped into the source of life--
water—away from the water all you get is brush and scrub.
Clint McCann Commenting
on this Psalm-says prosperity [happiness] is not about getting what you want; rather
it comes from being fully connected to the source of life. The Psalms say That connections comes through
living the ways of God.
I think that I am
probably switching at this point from preaching to testimony, but I guess
that part of preaching.
A few weeks ago I alluded
to the fact that the happiest, most joyful parts of my life have been the last
18-20 years when I rediscovered my faith and began to live no longer just for
myself, but for God and for others and I began to live more in tune with God’s
ways. That’ doesn’t mean that it hasn’t
been hard or that bad things haven’t happened —my mom was sick for many years
and died four years ago—that’s been terrible.
At times during the last
20 years-we have lived on the edge of poverty-- going through seminary—we were on
WIC --as many of my colleagues were-but I can still say that that time was joy filled-
I was in the midst of incredible community -I was fulfilling a call – there was
purpose-I would never trade that time.
Following God ---I have
met some of the most amazing people over these last twenty years—people I would
never have met had I not started to live a more faithful and trying to follow
God.
I have discovered some of
the happiest moments of my life have been when I have given myself away in
service to the other. I can remember going on a mission trip to Springfield
Mass after the tornado they had a few years ago. I took a group of parishioners from Buffalo to
Springfield to help with a mission project that was put on by the diocese of
Western Mass. At the end of the first
day -- one of the women I was traveling who had been at a different site said,
“Fr. Sean I have to tell you the most amazing thing."
She said she had been deployed to help a twenty-thirty something man
and his elderly mother clean up debris and down trees in their yard. At the end of the day the mom pulled her
aside thank you for coming it’s been a rough year--- my other son killed
himself and then the tornado hi damaged
our house t and I haven’t seen my son smile in a really long time but today
when you showed up to help out that was
the first time he has smiled in a long time---priceless stuff— better than any
Christmas present I have ever gotten--stuff that happens when we follow God and
God’s ways.
I have found joy in
giving away money—20 years ago if you had told that Sean how much money I would
give away over the next 20 years and be happier I would have said you are
bonkers. The money I have given has helped God do God’s work right now— there
is something so life giving to that. You
might think that the money you put in the plate it’s about keeping the lights
on—but it’s more than that—on Friday we had a funeral here—and because of that this congregation is here and viable we were able to stand here
with Gerri Wise and all of Dick’s family and friends wrap our arms around them as they buried Dick. The work we did, I am certain made this very
hard time just a little easier.
Happy are they who
delight in the law of the lord—happy are those who take this book and work to
make it their life. Happy are they who
work on this relationship. The law of the lord it’s a gift given to us to
live happy and joy filled lives—it’s a gift that helps our neighbors live a happy
and joy filled lives because it connects us to the source of life and the
Psalmist says we will become like trees
planted by streams of water.
AMEN
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