Children can have a lot of fun with simple things – things like blowing
bubbles. However,
there is just one problem with the happiness that comes from blowing bubbles:
it just lasts a moment. We
may want to hold onto a bubble, but the moment we reach out & touch it,
poof, it bursts. Or
when we can't reach the bubble in time, it bursts anyways when it hits the
ground.
We can compare some of the happiness we reach
for in life to a short life of a bubble. Sometime
the happiness we try to grasp is out of reach or we just can’t get to it in
time. Or, there
are times when we think we have happiness in the palm of our hand, and the
bubble suddenly bursts, much to our surprise, and that happiness is gone.
What
are some of the things people chase in their search of happiness, putting them
above everything else? It
could be money, food, pleasure, material possessions, career advancement, & being popular with friends or
co-workers. It’s
not that these things are bad in themselves; if fact, these things bring great
pleasure to our lives and these things can be very positive and life-giving for
us when not taken to the extreme. But
if we make any of them our main priority in life & see one of them as our
key to happiness, then we’ll be disappointed.
Jesus
knew that people often look for happiness and fulfillment in the wrong places. In
the beatitudes, he even suggested that we might be happy or blessed if we were
poor in spirit, mourning, merciful, hungry for righteousness, and persecuted
for the sake of righteousness. Why
would Jesus suggest such a thing? We
don’t usually look at those things as bringing us happiness or pleasure.
However, when we’re poor in spirit, it’s easier for us to trust in God for what’s
important in life. When
we are poor in spirit, we don’t rely on our wealth, our material possessions,
or the values of the secular world for happiness. When
we’re poor in spirit, we can then turn everything over to God, making God the
true foundation and bedrock of our lives.
When
we mourn, when we cry in the midst of sadness and struggle, we can put all of
our trust in God to comfort us and to ease our pain. In
our mourning, in the trust we put in God, we’ll have the opportunity to unite
our sorrows to the sufferings that Christ endured as he endured his passion and
made his way to the cross.
When
we hunger for righteousness, we are better able to understand that there are
many levels of hunger beyond our hunger for food. We
hunger for justice and for meaning and for a deeper personal relationship with
God. In
the recognition of our physical hunger and the other hungers we have, we can
then understand that the most basic hunger we have as human beings is a
spiritual hunger to connect with God in our lives here on earth. Only
God can satisfy this hunger that’s an essential part of our human
condition.
When
we’re merciful, when we show mercy to others, then we can truly understand
& appreciate the mercy God offers to us as a free gift. God
gives us this gift of mercy, waiting for us to respond, to accept it, to pass
this mercy on to others.
When
we are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, by strangers, neighbors, or
even our own family and friends, we realize that we have a true friend in
Jesus. Jesus
is a companion who never leaves us, who is always there for us in good times and bad, through both our persecutions and joys.
All
of us want to find happiness in life, isn't that true? But
we shouldn't waste our time chasing bubbles for a happiness that doesn’t last,
for a happiness that doesn’t matter in the long run. We
should look to God – he’s our source of true happiness.
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