Specifications of Happiness

It may be well remind ourselves that mere things are not as important as is our attitude toward them. It is possible for people to put themselves in a frame of mind – and many of them do – where they feel they can’t be happy unless all their physical surroundings and possessions come up to certain arbitrary standards and specifications – the house they live in, the car they drive, the clothes they wear, and the pleasures they pursue. We can make ourselves unhappy by setting our hearts upon things which are not essential to happiness. Most of us are happy in the early years of youth, with only small things to make us happy. It is not until we complicate our lives or until we let someone else complicate them – until we become victims of our environment, victims of false standards, of wrong thinking – that we find serious unhappiness. And so it might be well at times for us to sit down soberly and confront ourselves with this fact: our pioneer and pilgrim forefathers, and uncounted millions of others, present and past, have been sincerely happy without the material things we sometimes think are so essential. There comes to mind these words from Paul to Timothy: “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” It would seem that the ever increasing accessories that complicate our lives should be recognized for what they are, and that non-essentials, desirable as they sometimes seem, should not be permitted to make us unhappy if we don’t have them. As many have discovered, there is sincere pleasure in simple and commonplace things. And with freedom, with straight thinking, and with clear conscience, people can learn to live happily without always having the latest complex conveniences and encumbrances. “Godliness with contentment is great gain.”