One of the most important elements of life is happiness. When I look around the world, I notice how scarce happiness seems, which makes me reflect on its true value.
Not too long ago, The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage, wife Martha, looked at me and said, “Why are you so happy?”
I looked at her smiling and said, “As long as you’re in my life, I’ll be happy.”
I once told her I had a PhD in happiness.
“What does that mean?” She asked.
“A PhD is a ‘Perpetual Happiness Demeanor,’” I answered, adding I’ve earned that degree.
No matter how bad a situation looks, I can be happy. For every bad thing in the world, I can always find something good to be happy about.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those possibility thinkers who think all I have to do is think it and I can achieve it. I don’t believe that at all. But I do believe in happiness in itself.
The other day, Martha was looking very sad. I approached her and said, “What’s wrong? Why are you looking so sad?”
Then she explained to me in detail why she was so sad. Based on what she said, she has every good reason to be sad. She had both thumbs injured, and they weren’t quite movable, which hindered her from doing most of her craft work.
“I’m just tired of my thumbs not working yet,” she said.
It reminded me of a time past when I was hit with shingles on my right side. My right arm was limited in what I could do with it.
One day, I went to Wendy’s, and a man came out of the store who didn’t have a right arm. From the top of his shoulders down, his arm was missing.
As I watched him walk to his truck, I got to thinking. That man will never be able to use his arm because it’s gone. I, on the other hand, will be able to use my arm again one day, because it’s just a temporary setback.
So, I told my wife, “Don’t get discouraged. That’ll soon go away and you’ll have full access to both of your thumbs.”
The other day, I had a doctor’s appointment across town. It was just a checkup the doctors like to do. I went out, got in my truck, but it wouldn’t start. I did everything I could possibly think of to get it running, but nothing worked.
That was a real recipe for some anger in my situation. I finally had to call AAA to have them start my truck. When the technician came, he discovered it was the battery.
It took him about an hour to get my truck running. In the meantime, I had to cancel my appointment and reschedule it.
I was a little bit agitated. When I walked into the house, Martha greeted me and said, “Are you happy now?”
She caught me with pie in my face. I looked at her, smiled very gently, and said, “I am now!”
I found some scripture in Proverbs to support my happiness.
“Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.”
— Proverbs 3: 13
My happiness is not found in the world, but in my personal relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dr. Snyder is a former pastor who lives with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage, wife Martha, in Ocala, Fla. His email is [email protected].
