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By Barry Buzza
My dictionary defines happiness as follows: State of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy [ant: unhappiness] 2: emotions experienced when in a state of well-being [ant: sadness]. I define happiness simply as fulfillment and overflow.
There's a term that King David, the author of Psalm 23, used which helps me understand happiness. He wrote, "He (the LORD) anoints my head with oil; my cup overflows." His words my cup described his life. Even though David was writing about the very painful times in his life, which he referred to as the valley of the shadow of death, he was happy, because his cup was not only full, but running over. To the inspired psalmist, happiness was a fulfilled life, and his cup was full. If it makes understanding his metaphor easier, think of sitting in your comfortable chair in front of a warm fire with a full cup of coffee; or out on the white sands of Hawaii with a full glass of lemonade; or setting out on a long road trip with a full tank of gas. When our life is full, with what we love to be and do, we will be fulfilled and therefore happy.
The second observation that we must make regarding David's statement is that his cup was not only full, but running over, "My cup overflows". We used to sing a simple song in Sunday School, taken from this line of Psalm 23, "Running over, running over, my cup is full and running overÉ." Little did I know that the chorus we were singing at five years of age actually taught the secret to happiness. And here it is: The secret to our fulfillment and happiness has more to do with what overflows out of our full life, than our present circumstances. The overflow is what we give away from that which is inside of us.
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Do you remember what I wrote last week? Before we can move forward into the secret of happiness, we must come to believe and understand that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
Consider the statement that Jeremiah was inspired to write twenty-five hundred years ago. "For I know the plans that I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans for good and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."
He was saying that, God has a plan for each of our lives; his plans are that we will each enjoy hope and fulfillment. Our future that Father God has prepared for us is bright.
Five hundred years before Jeremiah was born, King David had already given us insight into the mystery of God's plan for us. He'd written that before each of us was even conceived, actually before the world had been created, God had already preplanned a unique, fulfilling pathway for every person who would ever live on this planet.
And his plans were, as always, good and perfect.
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Barry Buzza, a veteran pastor, is the president elect of the The Foursquare Gospel Church of Canada. www.foursquare.ca
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August 23/2007
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