Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness

I may have been MIA for the past two months, but my brain has been anything but silent. With my daughter graduating high school, the bustle of the end of the school year activities for the younger peeps, a fourth birthday for my little man, appointments, daily chores, grad party prep, life, work, summer…I’m exhausted just typing it, yet by the grace and provision of God, I am surviving and have done a lot of contemplating in the process.

For my graduating daughter, this has been a time of great excitement, a milestone anticipated for years, and culminating in a daunting schedule of senior events and parties. It’s a season of great change and transition, and the prayers I pray on her behalf are probably far different than what she thinks she wants out of this life. It’s troubling for me as a mother, but I know she is not alone. Over the past weeks I’ve listened to numerous speakers, all offering their brightest words of encouragement to this year’s graduates, yet most of their words did not reverberate with depth and purpose, but rather with the empty pursuit of self, typified in the culture today. Although I’m sure these speakers meant well, I was disturbed by the repeating endorsement for these young people to pursue happiness. Of course no one wants to live an unhappy, miserable life, and we certainly don’t wish that upon our youth, but happiness is a feeling and for most people, also a moving target. How do we pursue happiness when what makes us happy one minute, may make us miserable the next. It works that way with many things in this life…like that basket of chips they bring while we wait for our meal at the local Mexican restaurant. We’re hungry and excited with that first chip, yet by the time the basket is emptied, our interest and excitement is waning. In real life situations this easily translates into a lack of endurance through the hardships of life and an inability to commit to things that don’t make us feel happy all the time. How do we accomplish anything at all in this life if we expect everything that is right to make us feel perpetually happy? Honestly, young people already tend to operate by their feelings and need more encouragement to make choices using other criteria.

We expect these attitudes of young people and perhaps unbelievers, but what about mature Christians? Should they be pursuing happiness with little regard for anything more? It’s not that the Christian life is intended to be ever endured and never enjoyed, after all, God is the creator of laughter and smiles, so it only stands to reason most people will have seasons that bring great joy and happiness, yet happiness is not necessarily found as a result of making it our life’s quest. More often than not, happiness is a by-product of a life well-lived, a consequence of sowing good seeds and making smart choices. Is our culture floundering socially because people don’t have enough happiness or because they lack the purpose found in enduring things that don’t always feel good or make us happy, yet produce outcomes that bring happiness and fulfilment.

As I ponder all of this, it leads me to wonder what our founding Fathers intended when they chose to include these words in the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. ——

Did men and women really give their lives coming to the New World because they just didn’t feel happy? Did they really give their lives in the American Revolution because they felt they needed more happiness and dying in battle seemed a good way to achieve it? They made serious sacrifices and endured much hardship with the pursuit of life and liberty in mind. The happiness they found was essentially the tangible fruit of their hard labor, but not that fleeting feeling of happiness we get when our favorite parking space is available, or when someone shares their Valentine chocolates with us; we’re talking deep, profound happiness that extends beyond the moment, a feeling that lingers even when things aren’t great, but we know we are still alive and free.

So what does God think of our pursuit for happiness? In Ecclesiastes, Solomon makes it clear that most of what we pursue in this life is fleeting and empty.

I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Ecclesiastes 1:14 NIV

Pursuing happiness is not necessarily evil, yet it is often a distraction from God’s purposes for our life. We may discover happiness in the things of this world, although our greatest joy and satisfaction will always be found in the pursuit of God. Every good thing passes through his hands anyhow, so why would we not seek him first? I didn’t expect the graduation speakers to say all of this, but felt it was important to set the record straight. Wishing all of you the abundance of a life well-lived in Him, the giver of true independence.