Christian Living
Larry Lilly's Letter Thursday July 10, 2008
In the United States of America we are promised life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Three very good things. Yet, a majority expect someone else to do the pursuing of happiness, while they simply veg out, wasting the gift of life given by God and further wasting God's precious gift of liberty.
Just what is meant by the phrase, "pursuit of happiness" has never been defined, causing many to suppose that happiness is whatever your definition may be at any given time, for even personal opinions are subject to change. An old saw has it that happiness is dependent on what is happening, where joy is something that transcends happenings.
As I was musing along this line I happened onto the epitaph of Miguel Cervantes' beloved fictional Don Quixote, who claimed he had "Set injuries and insults straight, righted wrongs, punished arrogance, conquered giants, and trampled on monsters." I'm sure you recall that he has also defeated many windmills in jousts. His epitaph reads:
"If I did not accomplish great things, I died in their pursuit."
One of Quixote's endearing qualities in his irrepressible optimism against all odds, his pursuit of meaning. In my humble opinion our guiding document's statement, "The pursuit of happiness" would better read, "The pursuit of meaning." Without an inner sense of meaning, the conviction that the manner in which I am living life, and using the liberty I have, fails to give meaning to the effort brings not happiness, but a deep sense of failure. Too many people attempt to assuage this inner vacuum with Bacchanalian quests. Tilting windmills is not considered a worthwhile goal, yet in Quixote's mind and heart it was tremendously important, thus his pursuit of meaning, of happiness buoyed him up through the thick and thin of his fictional life.
In my role as a pastor I spend a lot of time trying to help men and women who have opted out of real life. Oh, they get up, dress and go to work, work that in their mind and heart has little meaning other than putting food on the table and paying the bills, well almost paying the bills.
Many "Walter and Sally Mitty" types manage to drift through life, finding peace and meaning only in their daydreams. To actually pursue meaning/happiness is too far beyond the pale for them. Earl Nightingale often called this style of living, "Tiptoeing safely to the grave." He was right.
In younger years I knew an older man who always stated, "Larry, learn to be alive all the days of your life." I really had no idea what he meant, but now, I know he meant that there is more to life than breathing.
I hope I haven't encouraged you to run off and tilt a windmill, for meaning can be realized by understanding that many things we consider mundane are the essential under pinning of civilization. Properly caring for the family for instance is somewhere near the top of activity loaded with meaning. Wandering about aimlessly is not pursuing happiness. Learning how to create fire in your belly for the things God enables you to do, and doing them well, in the long run, leads to an understanding that you have been pursuing meaning all along. Now you know.
Larry Lilly Copyright © 2008 Use with credit.
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