To: Edgar

Psalm 16 (KJV)

Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust. O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee; But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight. Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons. I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

One of the greatest despairs today is that people are unhappy. Why are many people unhappy? Everyone desires to be happy, of which the object is a good higher than us and in which he can find his perfection. Since this is so, it should be conclusive that we were made for happiness. How can we reach this happiness?

Ask yourself, 'Am I truly happy?' If you are, will you stay happy? Is what you have temporary? If so, then you have not found true happiness. True happiness would be obtained if all our desires are satisfied. Maybe you thought having a new car would make you happy, but after a couple of days, you get tired of it. Maybe you thought that popularity would make you happy, but then you become frustrated how you must fit yourself into other people's standards and never become your own person. Maybe you thought having a mate would bring you happiness, but although it did bring you a measure of happiness, you have become frustrated at your mate because s/he was not the person you expected him/her to be.

The fact is that you want not to be happy sometimes, but always. You have an innate desire to become perfectly happy, but you are not. However, is it possible that there is no such thing as perfect happiness? This cannot possibly be since we all have an innate desire for it. We have an innate desire for food, and there is such as food. We have an innate desire for sleep and there is such as sleep (keep in mind that I said 'innate'). We have an innate desire for perfect happiness, there should be such. Then, the fact that we do not have it now shows that we are looking for it in the wrong places.

One of the mistakes of people these days is that they think since life is short, we must get as much fun out of it as possible. The problem with this is that man is not just a body, but he also has a soul. You can become tired of pleasures, but you cannot become tired of joys because pleasures satisfy the body and joys satisfy the soul.

The main problem of this: pleasures decrease when our desire for pleasure increases. For example, a person who believes drinking would get rid of his problems and satisfy his desire for pleasure would only find out that after taking a drink, the drink does not solve or satisfy his desire, but simply increases his desire for it, wanting more drink. Thus, he is unsatisfied with the drink and would go for another. When this continually happens, he will turn to other things than alcohol, namely a drug that is more pleasurable than alcohol.

Or take the pleasures of sex. A person who believes he gets happiness from sex would try to have sex. When this happens, his desire for more sex grows. After continually doing this to the same person, he would become tired of the person and would look for another. This shows that he did not love the person, but the pleasure that the person gives. If a person lives by the philosophy of 'will to pleasure' he will never be happy. She would say, 'Only if I had another husband, I could be happy.' Or he says, 'Only if I had another job.' Or, 'If only I was better looking.' Or worst of all, 'Only if I had a better life.' Everyone has a different state in life. However, every state in life has problems we have to deal with. Why then are you not happy?

The reason why you are not happy is that you are looking for happiness in the wrong places. You desire for something everlasting, something infinite, yet you look for temporary and finite things to satisfy that desire. This is impossible. A greater cannot come from the less since the latter is unable to produce something it does not have. So too, something temporary cannot give us an everlasting satisfaction. You want something that would satisfy you. It is not something outside us, but inside us.

The fact that we cannot find everlasting happiness in this world shows that we were not made for this world, but for another. We would not enjoy the fraction if we were not made for the whole. So then our desire for perfect happiness can only be given by something that is perfect. Since the object of happiness is the good higher than ourselves, we must look for something that is higher than us, not something lower than ourselves like material things. It cannot be another person because another person is not higher than us, they are but another finite being.

So then, to become perfectly happy, we must look to something that possesses goodness perfectly. It must be a Being that perfectly possesses any imperfect things we possess like truth, life, and love. This Being must be God! No wonder you were never happy! You have not found God! If you want to be happy, you must put God in your life Who can satisfy all your desires including everlasting happiness.

God love you!

A