3. Little Things that Make for Happiness
3. Little Things that Make for Happiness "Many are asking: Who can show us any good?" Psalms 4:6The universal search of man is for a state or condition of undisturbed happiness. Men toil and scheme, early and late, to secure wealth, in order that they may use it for their own happiness.
Let usdothis, they say, in order to be "happy." Let usgoyonder to increase our happiness. Or let ushavethis or that--and then we shall be "happy." This is the thought, the plan, the conversation of multitudes of restless mankind. Can happiness really be found? Is it not like the fitful fire of mocking fate, that allures and leads on--and disappears just as one is about to seize it? Is it notthe fabled pot of gold at the rainbow’s end? In childhood, is not happiness somewhere in the Grown-up-land? In manhood and womanhood, is it not "When I’m married?" "When I’ve settled in business for myself?" "When I have a home of my own and can do as I please?" Does not a quiet retreat on the sunset side of life (old age), work all done, watching the shadows as they "grow a little longer"--seem to be the place and the time of happiness? Or shall we say with the preacher, in his unsuccessful search for happiness amid the things of earth and time,"All is vanity and vexation of spirit!" Shall we, then, conclude that up yonder, away from uncertainty, from sin and consequent sorrow; up yonder in Heaven, undisturbed, we shall be at rest, shall enter into eternal bliss, and not before?
No. Happiness is not all withheld from us to overwhelm us at one fell stroke, and that, when we "Have shuffled off this mortal coil." It is here. There are in childhood, in youth, in maturity, and in old age--seasons of innocent pleasure, peace, joy, contentment--and their memory still abides.
Someone has said that "the idea has been transmitted from generation to generation that happiness is one large and beautiful precious stone, a single gem so rare that all search after it is vain, all effort for it hopeless. It is not true. Happiness is a mosaic composed of many smaller stones. Each taken apart and viewed singly, may be of little value, but when all are grouped together and set, they form a pleasing and graceful whole--a costly jewel. Trample not under foot, then, the little pleasures which God’s gracious Providence scatters in the daily path, and which, in eager search after some great and exciting joy, we are apt to overlook."
It is good of our Heavenly Father to place within the reach of the poorest and lowliest of His children, those little things that comprise real pleasure--beyond the reach of the king on his throne or the millionaire in his palace.
Consider, then, briefly some of the little things that make for happiness.
1. NEGATIVELY.
It might safely be said, indeed, that the way to happiness clusters around the admonition of what NOT to do. How easy, then, are the terms upon which this most desired blessing may be secured!
(a) Do not seek for it.
What misery attends the vigorous and persistent search for happiness! What a chase does this supposedly real thing lead one, when it becomes a phantom, after the soul has determined to possess it in order to gain happiness. Sometimes it seems to be within the grasp of the seeker. He is envied, flattered, followed; but, alas! deep in the heart there is anguish and disappointment, for a time unknown to the world, but in the end disclosed with startling effect.
"Happiness," said President Nott, "is a shy nymph, and if you chase her you will never catch her! Don’t try to be happy. Go quietly on in life and do your duty, and this shy nymph we call happiness will come to you of her own accord, by and by."
Said the Historian Froude: "Happiness is not what we are to look for. Let usdoright. If, then, happiness comes, life will be sweet; but if not, it is of no mighty matter--life can be borne." This ability to bear up in life, is happiness. It is the mastery ofselfunder adverse circumstances. No greater joy can come to a soul in this life, beyond the calm repose which theconsciousness of doing rightwill surely bring. The serious trouble with us, in our attempt to seek happiness, is that we are not wise enough or of sufficient strength, to avoid the miseries that are just a little beyond the state or condition we are seeking.
"I’ll be content and happy with just one drink," is the resolution of the wine-bibber; but, alas! misery is the other phase of the countenance now turned toward him in fiendish mockery.
"I’ll only taste once of stolen waters," and in that slippery path the feet were unstayed, and the sweetness sought turned to wormwood!
"I’ll make this shortcut to wealth,"and in the deal, a multitude of unforeseen robbers rise up to wrest from him all that he held dear, and more. The search for happiness, so common to mankind, is not only made byunwise or sinful means, but also with extremeselfish purposes. Self, self always first!
Put self in the background. Make an effort to cheer some other sorrowing soul, to reveal to others a happy state, and through some unexpected door of the heart will come an approving, smiling angel, saying, "I must abide with you, for I am found by those who sought me not."
(b) Do not envy.
How quickly and how far we drive this spirit of happiness, when we brood over, by way of contrast, the elevated condition or seemingly contented lot of others! The begrudging spiritnarrows and contracts the soul. To envy others brings misery. If some of their wealth, some of their skill or fame, some of their friends, were his--the envious one would surely reach the desired place of supreme joy.
Why should he think so?
First, because of the loss others would have to suffer. That is the fruit of the envious spirit--delight, secret and self-contained at first, yet certain and positive delight at the discomfort, the losses, and sorrows of others. Truly this is a fiendish delight.
Second, if from others, these items of supposed happiness could be possessed, they would be held in triumph to tantalize and annoy the victim. Happiness? Only in name, and in time to turn tormentor.
It is true that this spirit of envy at first does not intend to take away anything of wealth or worth from its owner--only a wish, a desire, either to have something equally good, or to share with the possessor some of his abundant comfort. Yet, in time, failure to receive, begets a spirit of anarchy, a desire to see all unequalities destroyed, a leveling down of all conditions and classes of men to his own plane.
"You shall not covet" is a prohibition that hedges up and saves the soul from the danger of moral suicide. If another has wealth, and you have none, remember, to possess it without the trained habit of keeping the same from waste and dissipation, would place you in a more miserable condition when it began to slip from you--as doubtless it would--and leave you with the memory of their luxury, with habits of ease and prodigality, without means of gratifying the same.
Better a thousand times the joy that comes with the slow accumulation of a little, than the false and fleeting pleasures because of the envy of the happiness and splendor of the life of another. Say, rather: "He has wealth, but I have no perplexity concerning thieves and false friends, intrigue of competitors, schemes of enemies and losses in a multitude of ways." "He may have fame and applause because of genius, but I may have the honor of his acquaintance, the pleasure of his friendship, and less of annoyance and daily demands that honor and fame may make."
2. POSITIVELY.
Happiness comes to us along certain lines of life marked out by duty. They are the simple services well done in the little world where we dwell. Not at some distant shrine, not in any movement of a magician’s wand, are we to find and enjoy the secret of a happy life--but in the use of the common and mundane things around and within us.
(a) Contentment.
A discontented spirit is always an unhappy one. To call up in order, and frequently, the names of the things we do not possess; to rasp and ruffle our feelings and the feelings of others by the inconveniences of our surroundings; the limitations, diseases, aches, and pains of our bodily existence; the things we might have had; the losses and crosses we have endured--such a peevish spirit, who can bear and be happy!?
Paul sent out to all the world a prescription for happiness, when he said: "For I have learned in whatever state I am, therewith to be content." Such a state is in harmony with the highest diligence and most constant industry; but it guards against the bitterness of repining when success is not attained.
He is to be commended who said: "I never complained but once in my life, and that was when I had no shoes, and it was bitter cold. As I wrapped my feet in rags, I bemoaned my miserable condition, when there hobbled by me on crutches a man who had no feet; I then saw how much better off I was than that poor cripple!"
"Count your blessings, name them one by one!" Make the blue sky the dome of your own magnificent palace; the shining sun your own private electric-light and heat plant; the whole wide world of teeming life, all a part of your vast possessions! How rich you are! and, having food and clothing and shelter, therewith be content and you will be happy.
(b) Purpose.
Much of the discontent and consequent misery in life, is caused by lack of a definite plan, the absence of a well-defined and fixed purpose. The listless, careless, slothful, can never be happy. He who has no heart in his task, will hasten to finish it, or leave it but partly done, and return to it only under protest.
Hard work was never intended as a burden, much less a curse. Before sin came, the newly created was directed by the Creator to service in connection with the care and culture of the garden. No greater curse could come to man than that which would relieve him of all effort, and permit him to be merely the recipient of life’s blessings, without a corresponding service and self-denial. The convicts in the prisons of the State would consider their penalty unendurable, if left without employment.
Among the little things that make for contentment and happiness let this be noted, that time and talent must be busy with a task up to the full measure of opportunity and ability--or else life becomes a burden. A quaint writer says: "What is happiness? It isn’t being idle; no idle man or woman ever was happy since the world began. Employment gives both appetite and digestion. Duty makes pleasure doubly sweet, by contrast.When pleasure is the business of life, it ceases to be pleasure!"
Respecting that purpose, the employment of time and strength, see to it that it combines three especial elements:
First, let it be noble; for herein has it to do with the development of character.
Second, that it be congenial. Suit the taste and the inclination in the choice of a task, and then it will not be abandoned when reverses come, or become irksome amid the dull routine of dreary detail and necessary drudgery.
Third, let it be useful. That entitles us to respect from our fellow-men, and their respect thrills the soul with satisfaction, and a determination to do well the task undertaken.
"But," you say, "most of us will be called upon to lead very ordinary lives. The work we can do, or the work we can get to do, may not be very congenial, or very noble, estimated by the world. How can we be happy in any uncongenial and very ordinary service?"
Remember! There is nobility in labor of whatever task undertaken, be it the digging of a ditch, the sweeping of a floor, the sawing of wood, or the making of a garment; every useful task is noble, and in that task one may have pleasure if he wills it.
Joy in the doing of little deeds, comes from the conscious satisfaction of a greater task soon to be completed. The weary steps are soon all forgotten, in the accomplished fact of a journey ended.Word and then line, page and then chapter--and soon the book is read, the subject mastered.Nothing very inspiring about a word or two, a few lines, or a number of chapters merely; but thus the world’s great literature may be brought up in splendid review. This hour, and then another, spent in some commonplace, poorly paid service, viewed alone, may bring discontent and unhappiness--until the hours have measured off the day, the sum of the day’s wages wisely invested, the days grow into weeks, the dimes count up to dollars, skill is acquired, stability cultivated, and the life is nearing the end.
Consciousness of service faithfully done, competence, if not affluence, secured through the long years of multiplied hours of lowly toil and then extended effort, changes discontent into supreme satisfaction, and crowns the life with blessings.
(c) Friendships.
Among the little things that make for happiness, is the art of making friends and deserving them. What a dreary world ours would be, without companions! Half the joy we have in getting, is due to the satisfaction of imparting to others. The "miser" is a miserable person. The philanthropist not only loves mankind, but is loved in turn by his fellow-men. The misanthropist hates man, but is the hated of men also. If, then, happiness stands in the midst of friends, how wise is he who adds to that number, and by his conduct retains them because he is deserving!
Friendship that is worthwhile is not secured by the abandonment of principle, or by an agreement to every word or deed that is noted in the life of those you admire.Favorsandflatteriesmay not always establish ties of sympathy and love; they may bebribesor bonds of slavish servitude! The cultivation of friendship is an art requiring studious skill. Some men and women will love and be friendly--when run after and besieged. Others will come to you, and sing your praises only when dealt with in generous way. Some people can be won by doing them favors; others, when induced to do you a favor.The race of mankind, in general, is easily won by kindness;nevertheless the vast variety of peculiar people in the world make exceptions to all rules.
Some people will respect and admire you, when you show respect and admiration for them. Some will be your best friends when, by a dignified and noble independence, you thereby demand of them rightful consideration.
Concessions must always be made innon-essentialmatters,in order to secure amity; but concession ought not to be one-sided. The best of blending is inmutual adjustment. A sincere, unselfish, steadfast course in life--administeringpraisewherever deserved,sympathywhen needed,reproofseldom, then, in utmost kindness, lending a helping hand to the helpless--is in general a fair rule for multiplying friends and strengthening the ties of friendship. In conclusion:
(a) be content with your present possessions, even while engaged in adding to them;
(b) have a fixed and definite purpose in life and diligently adhere to it, even in the dreary details of ever-recurring duty;
(c) make friends, multiply friendships and deserve them; but first of all and most of all, though coming last in the list, note that the one thing most essential to a happy life is:
(d) Sincere religion.
This is by no means a little thing. It is all-embracing and all-transcending. Dr. Johnson said: "The fountain of contentment must spring up in the mind; and he who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition, will waste his life in fruitless efforts, and multiply the griefs which he purposes to remove."
Horace, the Latin poet, said: "You traverse the world in search of happiness, which is within the reach of every man; a contented mind confers it on all." A French writer has said: "This truth ought to be deeply printed in minds studious of wisdom and their own contentment, that they bear their happiness or unhappiness within their own hearts; and that all outward things have a right and a wrong handle. Take a knife by the handle, and it will serve you; take it by the blade, and it will cut you. There is no good thing but is mingled with evil; there is no evil but some good enters into the composition. The same truth holds in all persons, actions, and events. Out of the worst, a well-composed mind, endowed with the grace of God, may extract good, with no other chemistry than piety, wisdom, and serenity."
Said Ryle: "So long as you do not quarrel with sin, you can never be a truly happy man. Thousands go on for a time in this way, and seem merry before the eyes of men, and yet in their heart carry about a lurking sorrow."
If, then, you are to be happy now, with the uncertainty of the future left to adjust itself and the question of eternity answered with sanity and satisfaction--get right with God! Then, and not until then, will you be in harmony with all circumstances and conditions, because there will be peace and right relations within the heart--because God is there. The things that make for happiness are all within our reach; they come at our bidding. They are summed up in Christ’s words: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."