How many times have you heard someone say, “I’m just not happy.”  Have you ever heard someone say “I’m just not happy because of….”  (my husband, my wife, my boyfriend, my girlfriend, my job, my dog, my cat, the president, the boy that mashed my bread, when he was sacking my groceries,)  It’s always about putting the blame on someone or something else besides themselves.  Or the one that gets me every time,

“God wants me to be happy.”

This is normally followed by a decision to do something that person probably doesn’t need to be doing in the first place. Let me just tell you something.  Life is not fair.  Life is hard.  I went to a graduation recently, where some elementary school students wrote advice to the graduating class.  One of the comments was-

 “College is tougher than high school, yes, but you are advancing into life and life is harder than college.” 

Well one of those babies understood reality better than some adults!

The other day I came across something, I knew to be true. It was just a reminder.  It was on a Mental Health Month calendar by Mental Health America.  It gave tips on things you could do every day to help you keep your mental health, well, healthy.  On day 24 it said,

“Call or email a good friend.  Studies have found that the difference between happy individuals & unhappy individuals comes in the form of good relationships.”

Jesus taught about how important relationships are.

Mark 12:31 – And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no other commandment greater than these.”(NKJV)

By God’s inspiration the apostle Paul penned these instructions to the church at Rome:

Romans 13:9 – For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,”  “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”(NKJV)

Sometimes what we think happiness is, really isn’t what happiness is all about after all.  You see a lot of times I think we try to put our cause for happiness into something tangible.  Money & possessions are one of the big things that comes to mind.  Many think if they had more money, a bigger house, a nicer car, more land, that their world would be a brighter, happier place.  Those people will never find happiness in those things.  Do you know why?  Because Jesus wanted us to understand how we treat each other is an important factor to how happy we will be.

Jesus did not say,“ Love thy house.”  He said, “Love thy neighbor.”

It’s these sins of the heart that get a person every time.  Greed, pride, & jealousy- people with those qualities will never see the kingdom of heaven.  (Galatians 5:21)

So, what do you do?  Remember what our purpose is in this ol’ world.  (To seek and save the lost.) First we have to understand & obey the gospel.  Next we have to study the Bible & grow ourselves in faith.  We are then able to go tell others the Good news about Jesus & what He’s done for us.  If you do these things, kind friend, you will learn happiness that you never knew existed.  You will be more worried about helping people, than hurting them.  The desires of your heart will turn to what Jesus wants you to do.  Remember that happiness is an inside job.  If you change what’s inside your heart, everything else will fall into place.

Thank you so much for stopping by to visit with me today.  I love it when you stop in.  We have had some glorious weather, here in northeast Mississippi (sign me up for some more of that!).  Just the right weather to sit out on my deck.  I hope you have a great week.  As for me, I have to be going, because I should be washing clothes.