Guess what I’m learning? I’m learning that we cannot find happiness outside of ourselves, it must come from within. Dave I thought you were a Christian, I thought you believed in seeing others as better than yourself. Ha these are elements of our faith where Christ was teaching his people to know their place in the kingdom. What we don’t consider is the fact that God made us, knit us together in our mother’s womb, placed His identity within us and is working in union with us to form and fashion us to our original design that has been hacked from the garden. Why is this important? Because we keep looking for our original design in a culture of consumerism that lures us to find happiness with our next workout, or our next purchase, or our next sale, or our next relationship….when all along happiness is to be found here now within who God has chosen for me to be. The paradox is the more I chase happiness the more it eludes me, the minute I sit quietly and am happy, then happiness lands softly on my shoulder.

The inner tension this leaves within me manifests in feelings of unhappiness which places a premium on my external world to pay me what I am owed to make me happy when all along it is luring me faster and faster on a treadmill called the Hedonic Treadmill which is the lie that if I run faster I will attain it. The fact is we are all exhausted from running. What if we stopped running, took inventory, counted our blessings, looked at our wins, and chose to live from a place of fullness in Christ rather than the emptiness of running. If we did this we would find peace that passes understanding guarding our heart and mind.