Heroic Happiness

"...and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge..." ¹

 

–—

In the Book "Soul Survivor",² Phillip Yancey writes of G.K. Chesterton, a loved British theologian:


"...[Chesterton] had been struggling with despair, evil, and the meaning of life, and had even approached mental breakdown. When he emerged from that melancholy, he sought to make a case for optimism amid the gloom of such a world."

I thought of Ebenezer Scrooge who had been visited by the ghost of Christmas past where lived unforgiveness. He then encountered the Ghost of Christmas present stately planted in stoicism. Finally Scrooge saw his ultimate fate. Eternal unhappiness.

But in his dark night of the soul, Ebenezer Scrooge made a decision.

Interpretation mine: I will serve those around me the best I can with what I have, and I will start with my nephew and his happy though ill son, Tim.

It only took one step, a change of attitude. Then the clouds parted. Scrooge changed some things including his circumstances and his friends. And happiness lived happily in his heart ever after, affecting those around him.

Choosing heroic happiness is rooted in deep joy born of so many things, including injustice, adversity and loss. It can continue to flow like a fountain all the days of our life should we chose it.

I sincerely believe today that happiness begins the moment we know truly for ourselves that God Is and will never leave us so long as we live. And should we chose to follow Him, the more we obey him in good conscious, the happier we get, even if things get tough. When doubts come, read The Beatitudes -- The Be Attitudes!

As we continue growing in this Truth all the days of our life, the gift of  Happiness grows as well.

Self-gratification is happiness rooted in fleeting pleasure. But pleasure in its best form merely mirrors God, who was pleased when he created this world in its perfect state.

When we decide to be happy and find pleasure the way God designed it, it continues to repay not only us, but those around us.

So when you smile today, don't think of it as a mask, think of it as a deep well that is rooted in heroic happiness. You will find your well filled to brimming over!

Watch the clouds part, if only in your heart! And don't forget to pass along good news and good stories along the way!

¹ Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol."