FOCUS, People!!

Ok, so I was at the gym today -- Yeah, second day in a row (Yay me!) -- when I picked up a popular fitness/glam magazine to read while I endured the torture device elliptical machine. Flipping through the pages, I was amazed to find article after article about Happiness. How to BE Happy. How to achieve happiness. How to make yourself happy...

Um, forgive me if I'm being obtuse, but is that really all it boils down to?
Is that our sole purpose in life... to obtain happiness?

If that sounds like a stupid question, consider this:
What if Jesus had lived his life with "happiness" as His goal?
What if the apostle Paul had done the same?
Can you imagine what the world would have been like if Mother Theresa had made "happiness" her sole purpose in life?

In fact, I have known people to make some of the worst, life-altering decisions -- destroying the lives of those around them -- based on their own quest for happiness.

Personally, I think it's a sad statement on humanity if this is what it's come to. If a monthly magazine is printing article after article about how to obtain happiness, you gotta wonder:
"Why are people so gosh-darn UNHAPPY?"

Perhaps the real issue here is focus.
When we constantly focus on ourselves -- our wants and desires, our pet peeves and dissatisfaction -- it becomes very easy to think that happiness should be our goal.
I believe, however, that if we STOP thinking about ourselves all the time and take a moment to think about others -- and not just think, but actually DO SOMETHING to make a difference in their lives -- we will accomplish so much more. Isn't that what it *should* be about?

Only by eschewing our search for the
"illusive happiness" will we truly ever find it.