WHAT IS HAPPY?

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One sunny Sunday morning, Henry Jones was rudely awakened by his wife shaking him by the shoulder.  “You have to get up,” she urged. “We have to get ready for church.”

“I don’t want to go to church.  I want to stay in bed.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, she demanded, “Give me three good reasons why you should stay in bed and not go to church.”

"OK, First, I don’t get anything out of the service.  Second, I don’t like the people there. And third, no one there likes me.  Now can you give me three good reasons why I should go?

 

“Well, first, it will do you some good.  Second, there are people there who really do like you, and they’ll miss you if you aren’t there.  And third, you’re the minister!”

King Solomon comes with a reputation for being very wise, so read to his following words found in the book of Ecclesiasts …

Words of how he sought to find happiness and didn’t succeed.

And which are actually our scripture for the morning.

 ¹ I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless.

² “Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?”

³ I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives

 ⁴ I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards.

⁵ I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.

⁶ I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees.

⁷ I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me.

⁸ I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem^[as well—the delights of a man’s heart.

⁹ I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.  
¹⁰ I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;  I refused my heart no pleasure.  My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil.

¹¹ Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
 and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.                       

 (Eccl. 2:1-11).

And there it is, wisdom from experience. Looking back over the years and the acquisition of power and wealth he says,

“…when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”

“chasing after the wind…” now there’s a phrase that enhances the word “futility.”

Like Solomon I have built my house and I own it.

My backyard has enough trees to be able to call it a mini park.

And like Solomon I have a pool to swim in or simply enjoy looking at.

I don’t have men singers and maid singers but I do have a stereo.

My eyes have gotten what my heart desired in the form of a wide screen TV.

I’m certainly not a rich man, but neither am I poor.

My financial condition has moved from not so hot when I came out of Seminary to good to better.  And I’ll take better every time, thank you.

But none of that is the point. 

 For if I don’t keep get my priorities straight, I am in trouble…

If I spend my days only “chasing after the wind…”

I am indeed, in trouble.

We all seek happiness without consciously realizing it often is to be found in simple things.

A boy and his dog; the transforming love of a young man and woman; a glass of cool, clear water; a bird’s song; a baby’s smile.

In 1964-65 they had a World’s Fair in New York City.  Millions attended and some even clapped at the magic of some of the exhibits…but do you know what was the most popular experience of all?  A film simply entitled           “To Be Alive.”

Of all the hundreds of films that were prepared and shown in all of the building, it was the one that created long lines stretching around a corner.

What did it show?

A series of unrelated scenes in the lives of average people.

A little Japanese boy rushing breathless through a field of golden wheat.

A young African boy rolling a hoop down a jungle trail, looking with wide-eyed wonder at the birds and animals and flora and fauna all around.

A grandfather made infinitely younger by a larger-than-life smile that creased his face - the reason?  His grandson who sat by his side as they fished in a wide, deep blue lake.

A long time ago I read a poem that perhaps puts

things in a better perspective.

 I’ve repeated it from pulpits and sometimes just to myself to do the inside of my head and heart good.

Suppose that people had to pay

To see the crimson sunset play

Or the magic stars of the Milky Way.

Suppose it was fifty cents a night

to see the great moon’s saffron light

Or watch a gull in its graceful flight.

How much, I wonder would it be worth,

To smell the good, brown, fragrant earth

In spring?  The miracle of birth.

For a baby’s laugh at the close of day?
Suppose God charges us for them, I say!

Suppose God charged us for the rain

Or put a purchase price on a song-bird’s strain

Of music, the dawn, the mist on the plain.

How much would an autumn landscape cost,

Or a window etched with winter’s frost,

And the rainbow’s glory so quickly lost?

How much do you think people would pay
For the cry of a child at the close of a day.

Suppose God charged us for them, I say!

Suppose we paid to look at the hills,

For the rippling sound of the mountain rills.

Or the mating song of the whippoorwills.

Or curving breakers of the sea,
For grace, and beauty, and majesty?

And for all these things he gives us free

may we give thanks on bended knee.

Though we can never agree on everything, because we are human beings, I believe there is one thing we all have in common, we would like to be able daily to go down on bended knee and pray, “Thank you, Lord…I am a happy man or…I am a happy woman…or…I am a happy child.

You want to know why so many people are not able to say that prayer?  Because they keep looking to the east for a sunset.

That’s right… just in case you missed it… They keep looking to the east for a sunset.  Not realizing that reverence and obedience to God, in all things, is the way to find true happiness.

Proverbs 28:14 tells us:  “Happy is the man who is always reverent, But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.”

In John 15:10-11 we are promised, "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.  These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that YOUR JOY MAY BE FULL.”

When someone asked Madonna, the singer with the extravagant life style, if she was happy she replied, “No, and I don’t know anyone who is.”

George Gallup, of the famous Gallup poll, conducted a survey that concluded fewer than 10 percent of Americans are deeply-committed Christians.

But they are the people, his poll found out, who were particularly happy.

They were a breed apart.

More of them were not saddled with prejudice and their tolerance gave them a special kind of contentment.

They were involved in a number of charitable activities …giving both time and money they were involved in practical, practiced Christianity.

They were absolutely, totally committed to prayer…for them it was not an occasional… or just when they were in trouble or in need.

And Gallup said, “They are by far, happier than the rest of the population.”

Would you be happy?  Then put your greatest labors not toward what you can acquire but toward our God who can acquire you.

Be bought with a price…

"Ye are not your own: for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."

To access his other book’s; BOUNDARIES UNLIMITED, RUST ON MY SOUL, POOR RICHARD’S ALMANAC, I AM SIXTY PLUS AND NOT HOLDING, THE ABC’S OF PARENTING AND GRANDPARENTING, LETTERS TO AMERICA…go to Amazon.com (books) and type in Neil Wyrick.

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To view an abundance of unusual stories and comments by Neil Wyrick go to Neil’s other blog ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS

Click on the following URL

http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/

 

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Below is a quote from Wyrick’s Writings blog entitled ANGER VS. PATIENCE
“After the old man had departed, God called out to Abraham and asked where the stranger was. Abraham replied, “I sent him on his way because he did not worship you.”

God answered “I have suffered him all his eighty years although he dishonors me. Could you not endure for just one night?”

God suffers us, endures us! And forgives us and loves us and sets such a perfect example for us.”

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BELOW IS A QUOTE FROM THE SERIES  “A HEAVENLY CONSTRUCTION PROGRAM” …(1st in series) (on this Wyrick’s Writing blog)

 “I have always been intrigued by a question God put to Adam, “Where are you?” Why did He ask that? What is the meaning behind this? It wasn’t a geographical question, for certainly God knew the answer to that one.

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BELOW IS A QUOTE FROM A NEW SERIES “Depression…the Alien Within”  on this Wyrick’s Writings …each week

”Sometimes the best thing do, if depression descends on you, is for a little while to try to wipe clean the slate of your worried mind.  To give such thoughts some muted silence.  Seek an emotional whiteout.  Just let the soft breeze of nothingness blow for a while.  And then, read John 14:27 and hear Jesus saying, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” 

 

“Do you enjoy visiting friends? More than likely you’re thinking, Preacher, of course, I do.
Now let me ask the other side of the coin - Do you enjoy visiting enemies? No?

 

Well, I know you must enjoy visiting at least one enemy because, like myself, you probably visit this one quite often. Unfortunately, we all …visit this enemy…whose name is anger.

Some visit anger seldom . Some on a regular basis. And during those visits, some spew and others stew.”

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There are over 600 stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to daily.

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