“There is more happiness in giving than in receiving.”

 Book of Acts ch. 20

Giving, daring to let go and trusting, all this is based on the notion of hope, which is a fundamental notion of happiness according to the Christian vision: it is to believe that God is always present, and that the life of which he is the source, will still spring up whatever the difficulties we go through.

 

In the Christian approach, happiness is linked to an experience of liberation:

– liberation from worries – through an attitude of trust

– liberation from failures, mistakes, and the fear of making mistakes – through forgiveness

– liberation from the pressure of having to prove one’s worth – because one believes to be loved as one is

– liberation from nonsense – through faith, a form of letting go of God

– liberation from the fear of death – through hope in a resurrection

 

“It is not by worrying that you can add a single day to your life!

So don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself.

To each day is enough trouble.”

Gospel of Matthew, ch. 6

 

This experience of liberation thus helps to reconcile with the past, to apprehend the present life and the future with less worry; and thus to be able to taste a certain happiness.

“God makes everything happen at the right time. (…) So I know that the only happiness for humans is to rejoice and enjoy life. When someone eats, drinks, and enjoys the results of their work, it is a gift from God.”

 Ecclesiastes, ch. 3

 

“Blessed are those who weep, for they will be comforted. (…)

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for a just world, for they will be filled.”

Gospel of Matthew, ch. 5

To be happy because we cry? What a crazy idea…

Are believers masochists who must suffer, cry, to find happiness? Not at all! The Bible speaks to us of a paradoxical happiness… The happiness announced does not wait for the present situation to improve; it is there right away, through trust in the presence of Christ and his offered love.