A little bit ago, I was having a conversation with someone, when they made a comment that not only stuck with me, but has deeply troubled me since. The comment was this, “We don’t all get the life we want, some of us just have to deal with it.” This individual, searching so desperately for a fulfilling, purposeful life honestly believed that they weren’t important enough in God’s plan to live a life THEY enjoyed. At that moment, everything in me wished I could just reach out, shake that person and force them to realize that I’ve spent the greater part of the last 2 years of my life learning: not only do we get to live the happy, exciting, fulfilling life we want, but we are called to it.
As humans, I believe the main thing in life we strive for is happiness.
As humans, I believe the main thing in life we strive for is happiness. Everything in our culture is centered around what we think will make us happy. Our society has spent the entirety of it’s existence searching for happiness in all the wrong places and, realizing it, but not realizing how to change it. My heart breaks because I’ve experienced the struggle, I’ve lived it, I see it happening all around me daily and yet the solution is so simple. It lies in scripture, and it lies in the undeniable fact that everything about humans points to the conclusion that there is something greater to be done with life than live it for our own contentment.
First, before anything else, we have to truly believe that God is head over heels, endlessly, relentlessly, passionately, fiercely, unconditionally IN LOVE with us and He so greatly longs to see us happy. Secondly, we have to believe that His plan for our lives isn’t a takeover, or a manipulation, but a beautiful story waiting to be written. From there, we can ask ourselves a series of questions and hopefully, in answering them, find the answer to the lifelong search for fulfillment.
What if we transformed our idea of happiness from what we thought we wanted to what the Maker of the Universe has in store for us? And what if we died to ourselves and our fear just enough to let Him show us what that looks like? And, what if we surrendered enough to follow through with whatever it is He revealed He had for us? What might that kind of life bring? What endless, unimaginable adventures and pleasures come from a life fully seeking after Him?
