What does it take to make you happy? I think happiness depends more on what you do with what you have than it does on what you have. Let me give you an example.
Saturday night I needed the house to be quiet and eight children can make a house a very noisy place. My week had been busy and the weekend was worse. I really needed to have some quiet study time and I didn’t want to work at the church. I wanted to stay with the family so I told them that if they wanted me to stay home they would have to be especially quiet so I could study. They all agreed.
I changed into comfortable clothes, arranged my workspace for undistracted study, and got down to business on the work. Suddenly my concentration was broken by a loud, repeated banging sound. Over and over again whatever was causing the noise seemed to shake the whole house.
Not wanting to express anger or irritation I called Hannah in and said; “Would you please go downstairs and ask whoever is making that loud noise to come and see me.” “Ask them real nice,” I said, “but tell them to come right away.” She went away and the pounding noise continued to shake the whole house.
A few minutes later the Hannah came back with a funny look on her face and said; “It’s Mom making the noise. Do you want me to tell her to come up?” “No, but what is she doing?” I asked. “Oh, she’s jumpin’ on bubble wrap,” Hannah answered.
That’s what I mean when I say that happiness depends more on what you do with what you have than it does on what you have. Arranging perfect surroundings and accumulating expensive things will not guarantee satisfaction in life. My wife is a simple woman with a childlike love for life. It doesn’t take much to make her happy or she wouldn’t have put up with me for over two decades. You just have to get her out to Wal-Mart kinda’ regular, let her get to the mailbox first, and keep a fresh supply of bubble wrap on hand.
Take a lesson from my wife. Don’t be so hard to please. And cultivate the ability to find joy in simple things. Like a boy kicking a can or a kitten batting a string.
