Scripture
“You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land.”
~Deuteronomy 6:18, NLT
Quote
God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from Himself {Christ}, because it is not there. There is no such thing.
Jack Lewis
C.S. Lewis middle name was Staples but he went by Jack {nick name}. Just wanted you to think for a moment and no, it is not a hybrid quote, it is all C.S. Lewis. Quite possibly, the most famous line in the Declaration of Independence is…We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Who am I to question Thomas Jefferson but we may have faired better if it read…life, liberty and the pursuit of righteousness. It seems that most Americans are overly concerned about their happiness at the expense of life and liberty. Most of us want to be happy but the wise among us realize that happiness cannot be your primary goal. Actually, you can’t get to true happiness by pursuing happiness.
Think about this formula: we begin with two choices [1] What is right and [2] What brings immediate pleasure or happiness. Either choice has consquences. If you do what is right, you may suffer short term but eventually you will have peace and be thankful that you did what was right. If you take the low road and do what brings you pleasure, you may experience immediate happiness but eventually you will feel guilt, shame and haunting regret. On the way to Nashville yesterday, we listened to Rick and Bubba talk about a 75 year old millionaire who had a 27 year old girlfriend. Personally, I don’t have a problem with that except for the fact: he has an ex-wife and some very unhappy children. This less than intelligent soul {I will not call him a fool} exchanged a healthy relationship with his children for a very short term fling. We all know why a young beautiful 27 year old woman marries a man the age of her granddaddy. He will not last long and she will have his money and his children will have a bitter memory of a dad who loved himself more than his own children.
Let me give you some advice: do the right thing. There is no possible way you can arrive at happiness by doing the wrong thing. So make righteousness your aim and happiness will follow. You make happiness your aim and regret and misery will follow. There is always a reward for those who do what is right {Psalm 58:11}.
EXTRA
I have a poor memory but I do not remember an August where it rained every other day. I am not complaining: PTL for the rain and cooler temps. Got Big Mama to Vandy and back: only scared her three times. Josie’s VB season begins tonight. Before she left for school she looked at me and said, “don’t let anyone else come to my game.” I didn’t understand her; I though she said “don’t let anyone else mess with my game.” I thought she was referring to a video game like Ty plays so I said, “Don’t worry, no one goes in your room except me on Sunday evening.” She and Big Mama die laughing. BM walks her to the car and she told her, “Go back in there and tell granddaddy what I really said.” Life is an adventure with you live with a senior adult. Big Mama will not laugh at my jokes but she thinks it is hilarious with I fowl up.