Barbara Dutcher, M.A. – The way to be happy when you see so much that seems ‘wrong’ in the world, is to remember that you are “in the world but not of the world” as the Bible states. This world is not your home – heaven is your home. But, you say, “we see the world of reality before our eyes every day and that is the world we have to live in!”

And I say, yes, so it would seem and yet if you will lift up your eyes, you will recognize that it could not be that God would have placed you in a world where so much suffering seems to be happening. Suffering is not the final reality, although it can seem very real.

True happiness is not even found in this world, although that is where most people are seeking for it. This may sound like an impossible or difficult statement to accept, that happiness can’t be found in your world. Is there not joy in life, in loving your fellow man, in seeing the beauty of the natural world?

Yes, of course, happiness is there, and yet the things that make you happy in this world are only reminders of your true home in God’s heart. Beauty reminds you of your own beauty; love reminds you that you are only love, forever; and sharing reminds you that God shares everything with you always.

Think to yourself – who are the very happiest people that you have ever seen or heard about? If you are honest, you will recognize that those who are truly the happiest are not those who seek for happiness where it can’t be found – in the things of this world. Those who are the happiest, the most joyful, the most at peace, are those whose peace and joy comes from within – not from without.

This is not to say that you are not to enjoy your love, your beauty, your friendship. I only ask you to remember that within you, where God speaks to your heart, is where your true happiness lies. From that place of true joy, you may share of yourself freely with your fellows.

SF Source The Guide Within October 27 2011