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What Would It Take?

I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. (Ecclesiastes 3:12)

How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! (I Kings 10:8) 

This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot.  Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. (Ecclesiastes 5:19) 

In the past few days, someone said something about my having fun. Immediately, my internal dictionary interrupted. Fun? I’m trying to figure out what crops to plant and how many beds I need in order to plant them. I’m building the beds. I’m trying to find ways to preserve or use what I’ve harvested. I’m trying to prepare one novel for publication and write another. Fun? Even if these things aren’t all quite serious, they’re work. I’m treating them as important, significant things. How can someone say I’m having fun?

I would have roughly the same reaction to the notion that I’m happy. How can I be happy? I’m working so hard, and the work that I get paid for is dwindling along with the corresponding paychecks. The work I don’t get paid for not only doesn’t pay, but it costs and makes more work.

If you read the verses above, there are some odd ideas about happiness. One is that the folks who get to stand around and listen to the king spout wisdom are happy. I can see that – I’ve shared my happiness about lectures and classes before but for most people, I suspect “happy” wouldn’t be the right word.

Then there’s the advice that we’re supposed to be happy in our work and in the wealth and possessions we have. For most of my life, whatever happiness I had was not fond in my work. There are times I cried walking across the parking lot to my job. I’m not sure at this point, but I suspect the times I’ve wished I had the courage to commit suicide had something to do with my job, and I saw no hope that any employer in the world would be willing to hire someone who had worked where I worked.

But then I think about what has happened in my life since March 2020. With COVID-19 and the world in turmoil, I am happier than I think I’ve ever been. And even with all the work, I’m having fun. And I have to wonder whether, for me at least, “fun” and “happiness” have something to do with purpose, meaning, and/or significance. I’m not sure, but it’s something I need to consider.

And now we must turn to you. Are you happy? Are you having fun? What do those words mean? What would it take for you to be happy or have fun? 

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