Recently a friend of mine sent me the following excerpt from a book he had read entitled, “The Happiness Project” by Gretchen Rubin. It’s a memoir about a woman who spent a year of her life doing all kinds of things to try to make herself happier. The process led her to create two lists. The first she called her Twelve Commandments. They were:
Be Gretchen
Let it go
Act the way I want to feel
Do it now
Be polite and be fair
Enjoy the process
Spend out
Identify the problem
Lighten up
Do what ought to be done
No calculation
There is only love
Then she also came up with what she called her Secrets to Adulthood. These are:
People don’t notice your mistakes as much as you think
It’s okay to ask for help
Most decisions don’t require extensive research
Do good, feel good
It’s important to be nice to everyone
Bring a sweater
By doing a little bit each day, you can get a lot accomplished
Soap and water remove most stains
Turning the computer on and off a few times often fixes a glitch
If you can’t find something, clean up
You can choose what you do; you can’t choose what you like to do
Happiness doesn’t always make you feel happy
What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while
You don’t have to be good at everything
If you’re not failing, you’re not trying hard enough
Over-the-counter medicines are very effective
Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good
What’s fun for other people may not be fun for you — and vice versa
People actually prefer that you buy wedding gifts off their registry
You can’t profoundly change your children’s natures by nagging them or signing them up for classes
No deposit, no return
I wrote my friend back and related to him that I find her lists to be interesting and entertaining, but I’m afraid her conclusions are just a little too whimsical for me to be considered as a worthy conclusion of what she has gleaned from life and finding happiness.
My summary is a little more on the serious side. I have concluded that we are in the midst of a spiritual war between God and Satan, good versus evil, and the only way to survive much less thrive and find happiness is to get on God’s side of the war and stay there.
In the Bible, King Solomon, (the son of King David), is named to be the wisest and richest man the world will ever know, (a blessing that is said to have been personally bestowed upon him directly by God).
After spending his entire lifetime indulging in all the world had to offer, which included having a 1000 wives and an equal number of concubines, wine, mind-boggling wealth, power, spearheading public work projects of huge proportion, writing Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and other magnificent works that will stand forever and having had the most notable people of the world including Kings and Queens travel thousands of miles under harsh conditions just to have the privilege of sitting at his feet and hearing his wisdom and marveling at his fabulous wealth, he summed up life and its meaning as follows:
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
13 Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.
14 For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.
I’m not King Solomon but I have lived a rich and full life and agree with his conclusion. I agree with him that the vanity of life is futility. True happiness can only come from drawing close to God, submitting to His authority, and clothing ourselves in the wonderful peace and love that His Son Jesus freely offers.
Everything else, (as King Solomon so eloquently said some 2000 years ago), is meaningless
Ecclesiastes 1:1
The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:
“Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”