Happiness. What is it for you?

In the article by SunshineandNightStar entitled Happiness, my brother and fellow-blogger tackled happy and how he and his daughter defined it differently.

The past couple of weeks, I have been ruminating on this very concept.

One Wednesday, I went to the National Bookstore HQ chapel over lunch with a colleague, Ace Dionisio.

Indeed God talks to us through other people, through the Bible passages and in this case, through the priest’s homily.

Here’s the scripture that day. It was from the gospel of Luke 6:20-24.

And He lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.”

The homily that followed was short – only about 3-minutes long (or shall we say short) but very meaningful. It’s like God was especially talking to me that very moment.

The priest started off by talking about the root word of happiness – hap. Hap means luck or chance. He then talked about how so many people confuse happiness with blessings. He suggested for us to substitute happiness with blessedness whenever we start to think about it and that we should aim for being blessed and being joyous, which are more profound and lasting, than being happy, which is fleeting, by chance.

I am guilty of the same. When I was thinking about happiness, I actually was aiming for joy, for God’s blessings.

Instead if looking for that fleeting feeling, we should count our blessings, we should feel deep within the more lasting feelings of joy. Instead of looking for the fleeting feeling, we should work on what God wanted us to become. Instead of looking for that fleeting feeling, we should praise God and be grateful for His gifts to us.

When I started to think about God’s blessings, my world started to grow bigger and brighter. One thought of blessing is immediately followed by another, and the next, and so on. It was an outpour! God blessed you and me with so much!

If you’re looking for happiness, try to count your blessings, instead.

God bless!

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