I'm hopefully going to do a post on gossip and small towns later tonight (or tomorrow morning) but in the meantime, here is an image that hit me "like a ton of bricks." One of the postcards on PostSecret this Sunday (above) really made me think.
Lately I have found myself feeling a lot of pressure to provide for my family. Maybe it comes with being a student, I don't know. What do I know is that in the past I never worried about money very much, but now I do. Even though we are in fairly decent financial shape (especially after 4 years of school) and I can't complain, I seem to be letting financial worries effect me. Instead of living more in the moment like I should be, I find I am worrying about the future - something I don't believe in but find myself doing anyway!
When I read this postcard I knew it's message applied to me. Happiness is not based on what you have or even on your financial security (although it is a factor). I'm reading a great book called "Happier" right now (look for a review later) which says that happiness is a combination of living life with purpose and enjoying the pleasures of the moment. This fits well with Ecclesiastes which says that man can do nothing better then to eat, drink, and find enjoyment in our work (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25). Wisdom says to look to the future, but not to exclusively focus on it. Hopefully I will find a better balance then I currently have.
May Light increase!
Church service at Holy Church near Rescue 1
4 weeks ago
2 comments:
I find that I am happiest when I stop myself from focusing so much on the needs and material things in my life and start focusing on the people and relationships. The joy that my son brings me... listening to my husband speak yesterday and knowing that that brings him joy and fulfillment. Looking forward to the two little people joining our family oh so soon. It is in these people that I find happiness.
It is when you lose everything you get the opportunity to truly let go of "stuff" and realize none of that makes you happy or fulfilled.
This loss happens to people for a myriad of reasons--some quite catostrophic. When it happened to me, in my situation, while it caused me some stress, I used it as(God gave me)an opportunity to let go of things and figure out what really drove my passions and made me happy (and show me what I'm made of!)
Now when I can afford the "extras" in life it is just a perk.
Hopefully we as people can wrap our brains around that without, or before, some sort of traumatic thing happens in our lives.
I love the post card... and I can totally relate in my own way.
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