I have been thinking a bit again and the results prompted me to share whatever it was I found meaningful. There are as many definitions of the word 'happiness' as there are total number of days multiplied by a lifetime, multiplied by the number of people that will ever live on the earth - in my opinion. My happiness changes with wisdom and experience and circumstance and will always be different than the next person. But what has me thinking is the current worldview that a person deserves happiness, and not only that but a person deserves the 'good life'. What? What does that mean exactly? You get the general idea that people are talking about the right to pursue wealth, riches, the dream job, the dream house, etc. Oh, so this is happiness? Well it got me thinking about a certain man named Job. Whether you consider him to have actually lived or not, he is a prime example of what I want to talk about.
Was Job happy? If you reread the book of Job, I don't think you can get a universal, unified answer to this. Also, no matter how close you are to God, I don't think Job was happy in many ways after experiencing the death of all his children and the lost support of his wife and friends. Did he deserve this pursuit of monetary gain? Well, God did bless him before this experience where he was made an example. So was it worth it? God replaced everything Job lost except his children, right? What does this mean? I don't know, really. I just don't think the current worldview of the right we have to pursue what doesn't last is the right one, yet everyone buys into it. Where does it say I have the right to wealth, riches, big things and expensive things? Who am I anyway? Why do we think that the 'pursuit of happiness' declared so long ago translates to the pursuit of these things? I am just as guilty as the next guy.
Sitting in a room with not much to do over this long weekend, away from my wife and children for nearly two months now has me thinking this way. I get the privilege of spending time away from the people I care for most, sharing this privilege with countless servicemen now and before me. I have been lucky regarding this though. Many go for longer periods and more frequently. Many don't come back. I bet if you ask one that does a lot of time away from their spouse and children, you will find many similar answers to their definition of 'happiness'. Memories and pictures in my mind of my children and my wife's smile are what brings a smile to both my face and heart.
I think there is a confusion also with the origin of a certain nature we have. Especially after we bear children, we as parents want to protect and provide for our offspring. But if you admit to yourselves that this is a product of our 'natural man' spoken of in scripture, would you tweak your perspective? Are we not mere guardians for the spirit that inhabits that clay that we hold in our arms? Job had plenty of monetary ability to protect and provide for those children but did it do him any good?
In the end, I think we all compromise with our natural man. We choose a job that will take us away from our family, but for a reasonable amount of time where we are able to 'bring home the bacon'. This of course is the way the system works and we can't do much about it. Often, but not always, our job choices and our time spent there reflects the value we place in certain definitions of the word happiness. I wish my job reflected more of my definition, yet I don't regret my job choice. I often reflect on 'time lost' where I am not experiencing the aging of my family and the life they are living without me. I suppose someone like me needs this every now and again to help me remember what I value most and what happiness really is under everything else that I think is important.
