By Gary Andrews
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Over the past few years I have worked with some very wonderful people. I have seen many different personalities and had to deal with most of them. For the most part everyone wants to be happy but some can’t seem to get it through their head that happiness starts with them.
Some 20 years ago I worked with a person that had gone through some real problems at her previous job. It seems that she wasn’t happy for her family being at the income level they were at and she decided to use some of the money that was coming through the office of her employer. This lady wasn’t a bad person and her intentions were to keep her family in a higher social level than they really could afford.
On the outset it didn’t seem as though she was a miserable person, but she probably was because of the society she wanted to be part of. After many hours of counseling she did come to the realization that the people she was socializing with weren’t that happy and they in turn were making her miserable because she wasn’t at their financial level. She had a wonderful family and all she would ever need, had she just realized, that she had more love than most of these people she was trying to keep up with
Trying to keep up with our neighbors can make us miserable because of something we don’t have, instead of being happy with what we do have. In some instances it takes a tragedy or the loss of a love one to bring us into the realization of how unhappy we are as a person because of our circumstances. Once this traumatic change has been made we then realize who we are and what we have become because of the situation we allowed our self to be put in and by the company we keep.
Many times we as neighbors or co-workers don’t realize how unhappy a person is unless they confide in us. These people are sometimes very sharp in their dress, very charismatic, strictly business and professional, and don’t allow too many people to be close to them.
As the person I talked about above, who incidentally has a terrific marriage and life, no one would ever realize the troubles, pain, or misery they have as individuals. It takes an incident to bring out their true feelings and then you see a change of attitude
When we allow ourselves to become unhappy and continue to keep people around us that are unhappy then we are setting ourselves up for a fall. I remember one person telling me after coming to the realization of his unhappiness, “When you are miserable you feed off of others that are miserable also.”
There are many people in the world that are in the same situation this person was. It is my opinion and I believe that many professionals will tell you the same thing; life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you. Please understand that I am not advocating destroying friendships or marriages but I am saying that proper counseling will help in these type situations. People have to realize when that time has come. Sometimes people closest too you will hurt you the most if your relationship is not founded on the Lord.
All of us have the opportunity to have a friend that will never leave us. His name is Jesus and yes He should be your Lord and Savior. When all else around you crumbles and fall, Jesus will be with you to lift you up again. All you have to do is put your faith and trust in Him and He will never leave you or disappoint you.
The Psalmist tells us in 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
(Prayer: Father God, thank you for each and every day that you allow me to live on this earth. I pray that I will live the way you want me to live and not be a burden on anyone. Amen.
(Suggested daily Bible readings: Sunday – Psalm 37:1-9; Monday – Luke 12:13-21; Tuesday – Jeremiah 9:1-6; Wednesday – Ezekiel 13:3; Thursday – Ephesians 4:1-16; Friday – Obadiah 3-4; Saturday – Isaiah 1:19.)
Gary Andrews is the author of Encouraging Words: 30-days in God’s Word. To obtain a copy go to his website www.gadevotionals.com