Happiness

Summer, the sounds of laughter, the smell of food cooking on the grill, the long days and the starry nights – don’t we all remember those days.  Those days, oh those so perfect days that never seemed to end.  As I get older, I want so much to return to those simple times.  My life gets so complicated now and convoluted that I sit in melancholy.  As I say time and time again that is it not healthy to dwell on the past and forget to live today.  We must think like children and bask in the moment, minute by minute, day by day.  Theirs is a willingness to just be themselves and to be accepted.  If we all had such an innocent mind, there would be a lot less war and bickering.  Why is it that children, no matter where they are in this world, seem to talk and get along so wonderfully?  It is because God lets them see each other in a different light.  They understand that to prosper and to succeed they must first come to terms with what makes each of them so unique and special. 

This recalls to mind a message my mom tried to relate to me before her death.  I remember sitting in the backyard on one of our long talks.  She mentioned that to be truly happy, we had to first begin looking at ourselves.  We create the things around us, breathe the air around us and we make our own lives better for having love.  As I think about this now, I am reflective, wishing more than ever today that she could be beside me but I know that she is with me in my heart.

She said that happiness is the key to what everyone seeks.  We all want a life made for us by the divine love of grace and we receive it.  We give everything we have to make a better world for us and for our families.  Through our actions, we set the stage for the bigger song called life.

They say happiness is a thing you can't see
A thing you can't touch

 

I disagree
Happiness is standing beside me
I can see him
He can see me
Happiness is whatever you want it to be
Happiness is a high hill
Will I find it?
Yes, I will
Happiness is a tall tree
Can I climb it?
Watch and see

They say happiness is the folly of fools
Pity poor me
One of the fools

Happiness is smiling upon me
Walking my way
Sharing my day

Happiness is whatever you want it to be

Happiness is a bright star
Are we happy?

Yes, we are

Happiness is a clear sky

Give me wings and let me fly

Let me fly, let you fly

For happiness is whatever you want it to be

Yes, happiness is whatever you want it to be (Lyrics, Scrooge the musical, Leslie Bricusse, 1970).

 

This is for all those parents who made their marks on this world, through the happy eyes of their children and in all who seek His pleasure called peace.  As Saint Teresa once said, “Try to put in the hearts of your children a love for home. Make them long to be with their families.” In the end, all we have is what our children make of our world that we create around them. 

May He continue to shine upon us all and bring a ray of light into our daily darkness and may His peace be with you, always.