When I was younger, being unhappy was blamed on the many things I did not have in my life. The fact that I had so much, had everything, was a blind spot I did not see for years. All I noticed was the negative, the “not”, the “what if”, the “if only I could”. I chased those who might teach me the better things in life. People whom I looked up to, even though their presence in my life was not healthy for me. Objects that were of no substance and eventually pulled me down into an even deeper and darker hole.

The naivety in my younger self was ignorant towards a light that could solve all choices I saw as dilemmas. I thought that if I found new friends, made best friends, I would be happy. Then it was getting a degree in anything, a piece of paper to show I was not the unintelligent broad I saw in the mirror. Learning new thing, becoming insanely good at it and every other accomplishment would ensure peace of mind. An entity that people could be amazed be. If the men wanted me and the women wanted to be me, that’s when I would finally be happy.

If I found true love, share my heart with another person, happiness would flow my way. Money was a worry; materialism was my thing. With more of each, the existence of bliss in my life would become inevitable. Right? Wrong.

No thing, mentioned above, can ever guaranty prosperity or jubilation. The chase in question will only tire and depress. Any earthly thing will expire, nothing here is endless. Once everything has played out, what is left?

What if I won the lottery? What if I had everything I could ever want? What if I found the love of my life? What if I had dozens of great friends? What if I had nothing left to wish for? Would I be happy? It might sound like a rhetorical question, because it is. With an answer that is not surefire, nothing we have today can be pledged for tomorrow.

Here on earth, there is a time for everything. For friends, for love, youth, mistakes, uphill and deep valleys. We gain and lose friends; we hop jobs, and we fall in and out of love. Most of us go with the flow, some of us chase fame and fortune. But only a few of us follow the one thing that can assure a life of eternal happiness. Only a few believe in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.

God gave us the opportunity of a lifetime. And he made it so easy to take that opportunity and leave this world behind. It’s all an internship, to prepare us for the real deal. The time where we will serve Him and His new kingdom. Where pain and shame, anger and hurt are a thing of the past. We are so lucky to know that we can step out of the damaged day of today and live for a brighter tomorrow.

When I was younger, being unhappy was blamed on the many things I did not have. Now, when I’m happy, it’s thanks to the One who made it possible.