The Pursuit of Happiness

This isn't a review on that same titled movie in which Will Smith stars. In fact, I have never seen that movie.

Monday evening my family and I went over to a friend's house for a get together. There were many people there. One person in particular is an old Air Force colonel. He had been a mentor to my friends while they went to the Academy. As the get together got started, he asked us all 5 questions. Those of us who had never heard the questions had to promise to answer them once we heard them. I won't tell you all the questions, just in case you ever meet him, but one of the questions he asked which grabbed my attention was, "Who is the happiest person in the world that you know." Giving the recent circumstances of my life, I knew that I could not answer that I was the happiest person in the world. As I searched through my mind for who the happiest person I knew was, it was hard to think of someone I knew who was truly happy. What is interesting about this is that because I have been so depressed recently, it was hard to think of anyone else being in any other state. I ended up answering that Beth was the happiest person I knew.
My sister Katie answered that she should be the happiest person in the world. As the Colonel started pressuring her to answer whether she was or wasn't the happiest person, he explained to the rest of us that our answer should be that we are the happiest in the world. Since we all got the question wrong, his next question was, "what would it take to make you the happiest person in the world?"
My first reaction was that it would take perfection. It would take me to be perfect for me to be the happiest person. After thinking about it, I suddenly realized that if perfection was my aim, then I would never be happy again in this world. God calls us to be perfect, to be holy like Him, but He never tells us to wait to be happy because we are imperfect. Instead, He calls us to rejoice in His perfection, His righteousness, and the fact that He is making us like Him.
So, this week I am trying my best to be happy, to look on the bright side of things, because there is a bright side of things.
"I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." Isaiah 61:10