I need to begin with a disclaimer. I am not partial to making my own personal happiness the guiding star of my decisions. But the article my sister sent me about
12 Things Happy People Do Differently did strike a chord or two. In fact it set off the whole xylophone. While setting out to please myself does not make a good launching pad it can be helpful to take cues from people who have figured out how to participate with
The Happiness Plan. God wants us to be happy, of that I am sure. After all I am only a proxy parent, and I rush into burning buildings, scale barbed wire with bleeding palms and grind wheat
to bake bread for my children on a daily basis. Could I expect less from the Divine?
The list includes appreciation, forgiveness, optimism, and nourishing relationships. It elaborates about savoring life's blessings, making a commitment, practicing spirituality and kindness. These choices, claim the authors, are descriptive of happy people. I am especially glad to hear the promo for commitment. I am a fan of commitment.
Actually the closer I look, the more congruence I find with their list and my composite picture of God. He is the Dayspring of kindness, even when we hijack the credit for ourselves. He invented forgiveness to help us find our way home. When we pound compassion into our muscle memory as well it brightens the path.
The God of Appreciation chose to saturate the world with ways to affirm His children. Gratitude is the matrix within which people can thrive. Fortunately we are surrounded by potential appreciaters. When each of us figures out the Secret and starts dishing out thanks for the abundance in which we are all swimming, everyone wins.
The authors point to optimism as a signature characteristic of joy. I believe that God cannot even frown on us. That is optimism in the extreme.
For my final thesis in college I asked 300 children to describe God on a 3x5 index card. I saved my favorites, including one from a little girl named Katie.
"HY IS OWESE HAPPEE"
I guess I will make God the guiding star of my decisions, and let Him work out the particulars about happiness.
