HAPPINESS.
[hap-ee-nis] noun
1. the quality or state of being happy.
2. good fortune; pleasure; contentment; joy.
Happiness... exhibited in the form of a smile, demonstrated through random acts of kindness, bound by way of gratitude and ultimately translated into love. Throughout our early childhood we were an unlimited source of energy, obtaining our vitality from the endless possibilities of the world. As we matured, that happiness that was once contingent upon life itself, is overshadowed by material things, relationships, careers, and opportunities.
I've been in a very weird place in my life as of recently, one second everything is amazing and then BOOM, I want to fight everyone that I come in contact with. It's like I can't maintain a consistent peace over my life. The highs are HIGH and the lows are LOW. Yet I wonder, is that the same for every college student? Are we all fighting the same battles everyday simultaneously, yet we fail to realize it because we all put up a front like our lives are perfect? Well that sounds about right. Honestly, I just wish I could rewind and go back to elementary school, where my only "real" problem was if my mom didn't let my friends come over to watch the Cheetah Girls. Now, it feels as though every goal is unattainable, every obstacle takes months to get by, and every problem is basically life or death. Dramatic? Yeah I know..
When you hit the age of 20, it feels as though you have to accomplish all your goals before 25 or you have ultimately failed at life. There is this unnecessary pressure that we put on ourselves to achieve what some people spend their entire lives accomplishing. If we aren't married by 25, we suddenly will never find love. If we change our major, we will suddenly never graduate. If we can't obtain an internship, we'll never get a job. If we have a bad game, all of a sudden we are a terrible player. Oh, and God forbid we get a bad grade on an exam... then we're an idiot.
On the flip side, let's say all these things don't go wrong. We ace that exam, we're in the perfect relationship, we get MVP in that tournament, or we get offered that dream internship. Well, then the world is PERFECT all of a sudden. Nothing can go wrong now because we accomplished that short term goal. We then decide to put all our stock in that situation. We make that sport our entire life, that relationship is all we give our attention to, or we worship that internship. Yeah you guessed it, WRONG again.
You see, we base our happiness on temporary things; those things can be materialistic, or even intangible. Therefore, when the smallest thing goes wrong, automatically in our minds everything is wrong. That is solely because we fail to appreciate and recognize the small things, the things that are guaranteed. GOD. LIFE. FAMILY. HEALTH. FOOD. WATER. These are things that come so naturally to us, we tend to forget that there are many people fighting for those very things. As we are crying about our boyfriend cheating on us, someone is watching their mother die. As we are furious about losing that game, someone is furious that because they don't know where there next meal is coming from. When we decide to be grateful for the smallest things, everything will naturally fall in place. Yes will experience misfortune, but that's life. If everything goes right, we won't learn anything.
We must learn to appreciate the eternal things, not the temporary things. God is eternal. His love is something we will ALWAYS have. That alone should bring us never-ending happiness.
John 16:33 : "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."