Whatever Makes You Happy

That is phrase I heard a lot from my mother. As a child, I drank exclusively from champagne flutes. The first time I asked to drink from a champagne flute instead of regular cup, my mother said, "Whatever makes you happy" and poured my drink into a champagne flute. It made me ecstatic.

Looking back, I think was benefiting from being the third child, in that my mother had learned not to sweat the small stuff. Why argue with a small child about drinkware or matching clothes? Why not let them be happily different in ways that don't really matter? We had rules to obey, of course. Bedtimes were nonnegotiable, as were sharing, getting homework done, manners and a few hundred other things. The small, things, however, were up to us. My mother allowed us to find out joy, and for that I will always be thankful.

When I got older, I learned that not everyone is guided by Whatever Makes You Happy. Most people seem to be guided by Whatever Makes Me Happy. You see this attitude a lot in religion. Wear these certain clothes, read these certain books, recite these certain prayers, believe this and only this, and even in the small things, be guided only by me. Happiness? Fuck that noise. Who needs happiness?

Most people don’t consider that there is something far more important to God than human happiness. We tend to think that we are somehow owed happiness by God--that He is obligated to make sure we live a happy and healthy life.

Hitler was no doubt happy when things were going his way.

God is not anti-happiness, however, the thing that pleases God is something the Bible calls "righteousness." So those who want to please God should take Einstein’s advice with a grain of salt.

If you and I are happy we should make sure that our happiness springs out of righteousness, not out of sin, and that can only happen if our sins are forgiven through trusting in Jesus Christ. Then we should dwell constantly on our eternal future. Everything we say, do, and even think should be in the light of God’s smile or His frown. To claim have everlasting life, and not to do so is to play the hypocrite.

Pic. A happy Hitler

Ignoring that Ray Comfort just Godwinned his own blog - Hitler was happy, do you want to be Hitler?!- I find that entire philosophy to be indescribably sad. What could be more important than joy? What could be more worthwhile than a smile or a laugh? I am not saying that everyone should be unrelenting happy all the time, or that one should harm others in the pursuit of happiness, but to reject happiness as so much dross? Now I'm not happy at all.

I shall have to go back outside and let the soft, warm air and the newly unfurled leaves coax me back to happy. Thankfully, I won't have to ask Ray's god permission before I smile.