Did you miss the International Day of Happiness?

I didn’t realize that Thursday was the International Day of Happiness until it was too late to write about it in the Daily Article. But surely we should seek happiness every day, not just on a day chosen arbitrarily by the United Nations.

Here’s the problem: A secularized culture can seek happiness only in the happenings of our world. And a quick scan of this morning’s news shows us the illusory nature of such happiness, from today’s power outage and closure of Heathrow Airport in London to the renewed conflict in Gaza to wildfire evacuations and disruptions in Texas, Florida, and Arkansas.

The 2025 World Happiness Report was published this week; in it, the US fell to its lowest-ever ranking, coming in twenty-fourth among nations. (Israel, despite its ongoing war with Hamas and internal divisions, ranked far higher than we did.) We should not be surprised: anxiety, loneliness, and overdose deaths are all at all-time highs in the US.

So, seeking happiness from happenings doesn’t seem to be a winning strategy. The good news is that there’s a far better way.

Not a status we achieve but a gift we receive

It is difficult to be happy when our circumstances are difficult. But we can be “blessed” in every moment of every day:

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lᴏʀᴅ, whose trust is in the Lᴏʀᴅ. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit (Jeremiah 17:7–8).

In his famous Beatitudes, Jesus gave his disciples eight ways to be “blessed” (Matthew 5:3–10). Each statement begins with the Greek word makarios, which describes a state of well-being that transcends circumstances.

The first is foundational to all the rest: “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (v. 3). To be “poor in spirit” means to recognize that we are so impoverished spiritually that we desperately need God. The other Beatitudes follow from this:

• “Blessed are those who mourn” for their sins and respond with repentance (v. 4).
• “Blessed are the meek,” those who are fully submitted to God (v. 5).
• “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,” seeking to be right with God, others, and themselves at all costs (v. 6).
• “Blessed are the merciful” who share with others the mercy they have received from God (v. 7).
• “Blessed are the pure in heart,” those who are focused on just one purpose, that of loving God and others (v. 8).
• “Blessed are the peacemakers,” those who work for shalom (well-being) with God, others, and themselves (v. 9).
• “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,” who pay any price to declare what is right and live in its light (v. 10).

In each case, being “blessed” is not something we achieve, but rather an experience we receive. It is God’s gift bestowed by his grace (cf. Ephesians 2:8–9).

However, we must position ourselves to receive these gifts. When we do what Jesus teaches, we experience God’s best as a result.

But only then.

How much money makes us happy?

I noted yesterday that our consumption-based economy turns citizens into consumers and commodifies both people and the material world as a means to our ends. One primary problem with such an approach to happiness is that it is never enough. There is always something else to buy and own, some new experience to seek, some new status to achieve.

John D. Rockefeller Sr., one of the richest men in history, was asked how much money is required to make a person happy. His famous reply was, “Just a little bit more.” Br. Curtis Almquist of the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Boston warned us:

God is the source, sustenance, and destiny for our lives. If you are prone to lose that perspective on the amazing gift of life . . . then you are vulnerable to the idolatry of being your own god. And that god will prove too small for you.

By contrast, Jesus calls to us, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ Now he said this about the Spirit” (John 7:37–39). When we submit daily to the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), we are “filled,” controlled, and empowered as we experience the “living water” of Jesus.

It all starts by being “poor in spirit,” recognizing that we need a daily, transforming relationship with the living Lord Jesus. Nothing else will fill the “God-shaped emptiness” in our souls. As St. Augustine famously noted, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in him.”

“What is happening is always happening here and now”

To experience the “living water” of intimacy with Jesus, we must seek him in this moment because this moment is all there is. “Yesterday” and “tomorrow” are words, not realities. God is the Great I Am (Exodus 3:14). All of God there is, is in this moment.

And nowhere else.

Henri Nouwen cautioned us:

One of the greatest temptations of our lives is to live ahead of ourselves and not believe that something is happening here and now. The world in which we live makes us believe that the real thing is happening next week, next month, or next year. As Christians, we are challenged to believe that what is happening is always happening here and now. At this moment. Now. If we live the now, the present, to the full, the future will grow. We have already received the beginning of eternal life. We are already in the House of God. We are already breathing God’s breath. Let’s stay there and listen carefully.

Will you seek the makarios of Christ today? Will you drink the “living water” his Spirit can give only to those who are surrendered to him? If you do, your life cannot be the same. Nor can the lives you influence. And every day becomes a day not of temporal happiness but of eternal blessing.

To this end, I invite you to join me in a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer that I offer to the Lord each day:

Almighty and eternal God,
so draw our hearts to you,
so guide our minds,
so fill our imaginations,
so control our wills,
that we may be wholly yours,
utterly dedicated unto you;
and then use us, we pray you, as you will,
and always to your glory and the welfare of your people;
through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Quote for the day:

“Never undertake anything for which you wouldn’t have the courage to ask the blessings of heaven.” —G. C. Lichtenberg (1742–1799)

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