One of the emerging themes in conversations over the past few months has been happiness. It is not as if the subject was ever off limits. I had concluded that the subject was not one of priority. Conversations centered on survival, change, and trying to figure out what would come next. As regular topics of discussion, the specifics always change, so the topics never seemed to go out of favor. More recently, without notice, a two items have been added; what is happiness and how can I find, embrace, or hold onto it.
I catch myself reacting in two ways. I have a commentary on the subject that comes from a composite of different belief points. Additionally, I do not think I have a strong view of the answer for anyone else. I understand that there are universal needs that we share. I get the point that our longings have much in common. I also find that we struggle with tradeoffs. Happiness is rarely about being in the ideal. Happiness emerges in a journey with purpose as we reach for our greatest aspirations.
In the interim, we struggle. I find myself struggling with priorities, desires, and the realities of the day. I hold certainties values close to my heart. They reflect my idealistic desires. They often sit in tension with the pressures of the day and in the moment.
There are also questions, many without obvious answers.
There is timeliness feeling to the situation we find ourselves in. Things come in and out of focus. I catch myself able to talk about pieces but rarely the whole. Questions loom larger than they normally should. Even the answer to the identity that will receive a gift from God, which is as old as the hills, remains open despite the answer we were left with by a psalmist; “No, the children of his servants will get it, the lovers of his name will live in it.” (Psalm 69.36)
I find happiness in relationships and living with purpose. There is more to the answer, but this is a start.
