Happiness

May 31, 2022

From Pastor Joe Wamack

There once was a couple who had been married 70 years. Sadly, the wife died, leaving the 92-year-old man to move to an assisted care facility all by himself. After an hour or so of waiting patiently in the lobby as he was being admitted, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready.

As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, the nurse described to him his room-the bed, the chair, the color, the view, the TV.

"I love it," he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.

"But Mr. Jones, you haven't seen the room; just wait."

Mr. Jones said, "I don’t have to see it to know I will love it and be happy. Happiness is a decision you make. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged. It’s how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do.

“Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away, just for this time in my life. God is good, in all the stages of life. Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you've put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories!”

So my friends, one of the blessings from God is He gives us the gift of choice. We are able to choose to have a good outlook. God was good enough to give us each 24 hours-the rich, the poor, the inbetween. The black, the white, the brown, the guys, the girls. We stand on equal ground each day. Time if the greatest gift of all. It is what we do with the 24 hours we are given that will determine true happiness and fulfillment.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred. 2. Free your mind from worries. 3. Live simply. 4. Give more. 5. Expect less.