I don’t have a reference for this since it was posted by someone I know and she didn’t\/wouldn’t openly share the name of the book it was from. \u00a0I was super concerned after reading it, but I was having trouble articulating exactly why.<\/p>\n
Check it out:<\/p>\n
3. Do Things You Love<\/em><\/p>\n When you constantly deny yourself the people, food, things, and experiences that make you feel the most alive, that sends a pretty lousy message home. Look at your life and see\u00a0where you’re letting yourself down If you hear yourself saying things like “I love going out to see live music! I can’t remember the last time I did it,” make time.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n We’re all busy, but it’s the people who make enjoying their lives a priority who, um, enjoy their lives. Right now, there are thousands of people all over the world at yoga retreats overlooking the ocean, dancing their booties off at outdoor music festivals or whooping it up on the Disney Cruise of their dreams. Really listen to how you speak and pay attention to what you do, and make a conscious effort to increase your joy in whatever capacity you can. It can be anything from spending a weekday afternoon with a great friend to quitting your hateful job to buying a pair of completely impractical but completely awesome new shoes to going on a surf vacation in Costa Rica. It’s about being proactive about creating a life you love instead of meekly living the one you think you’re stuck with. Give yourself the gift of a joyous life while you’re still among the living.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n I’ve read it a number of times now, and I think my biggest issue is that there are so many half truths laced into this whole philosophy of life. \u00a0Do I have a problem with being happy? \u00a0No!!! \u00a0I love to laugh. \u00a0(picture me floating and having a tea party with friends on the ceiling) (Mary Poppins for those of you who don’t get the reference) \u00a0I love to be happy and to help other people be happy to. \u00a0I like to make other people laugh and I always hope they are enjoying themselves when we’re together. \u00a0I love to host events or parties where people have fun.<\/p>\n Why would this excerpt concern me then? \u00a0I guess the first half truth is that people who make enjoying their life a priority enjoy their lives. \u00a0I know a lot of people who have set out to please themselves and find happiness who have found at the end that everything they’ve been chasing has been nothing but grasping at the wind.<\/p>\n 2\u00a0<\/span>I said\u00a0to myself, \u201cCome now, I will test you with\u00a0pleasure. So\u00a0enjoy yourself.\u201d And behold, it too was futility.<\/span>\u00a02\u00a0<\/span>I said of laughter, \u201cIt is madness,\u201d and of pleasure, \u201cWhat does it accomplish?\u201d<\/span>\u00a03\u00a0<\/span>I explored with my\u00a0mind\u00a0how<\/i>\u00a0to\u00a0stimulate my body with wine while my\u00a0mind was guiding\u00a0me<\/i>\u00a0wisely, and how to take hold of\u00a0folly, until I could see\u00a0what good there is for the sons of men\u00a0to do under heaven the few\u00a0years of their lives.<\/span>\u00a04\u00a0<\/span>I enlarged my works: I\u00a0built houses for myself, I planted\u00a0vineyards for myself;<\/span>\u00a05\u00a0<\/span>I made\u00a0gardens and\u00a0parks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees;<\/span>\u00a06\u00a0<\/span>I made\u00a0ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees.<\/span>\u00a07\u00a0<\/span>I bought male and female slaves and I had\u00a0homeborn slaves. Also I possessed flocks and\u00a0herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem.<\/span>\u00a08\u00a0<\/span>Also, I collected for myself silver and\u00a0gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself\u00a0male and female singers and the pleasures of men\u2014many concubines.<\/span><\/p>\n 9\u00a0<\/span>Then I became\u00a0great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me.<\/span>\u00a010\u00a0<\/span>All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my\u00a0reward for all my labor.<\/span>\u00a011\u00a0<\/span>Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had\u00a0exerted, and behold all was\u00a0vanity and striving after wind and there was\u00a0no profit under the sun.<\/span><\/p>\n The second half truth is that pleasing yourself will increase your joy and happiness. I don’t know if it’s possible to find complete joy without doing what you were created for. \u00a0Joy will come when you find out what God created you for. \u00a0We have all heard the generalities of being created to worship or to spread the gospel, but I mean beyond that. \u00a0finding what He has created you for will bring lasting joy, not a yoga class or a cruise.<\/p>\n If we keep searching for moments to bring us happiness and joy, then when those moments pass, where will we be left? \u00a0We’ll be searching for the next moment. \u00a0I’ve had quite a few moments lately where I’ve looked around at the mission God has given me here in Michigan, the family he has given me, and the home, friends, and people I work with and I’ve realized just how content I am with life. \u00a0I’ve tried to figure out which of these things bring that feeling most. \u00a0I have figured out that being the Husband God has called me to be makes me feel that way. \u00a0Being the Father God has called me to be makes me feel that way. \u00a0Being the minister God has called me to be brings that feeling. \u00a0Overall, following God’s plan for my life brings me the most joy, peace, contentment, and love that I could ever imagine. \u00a0I’ve tried to gain these things on my own, but only when I found God’s plan for these different areas in my life did I find true Joy. \u00a0Am I happy? \u00a0Yes! Is it based on the things I’ve found and attained on my own? \u00a0No! \u00a0Only when I found the plan my Creator had for me did I find what I couldn’t get by making “enjoying my life a priority.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I don’t have a reference for this since it was posted by someone I know and she didn’t\/wouldn’t openly share …<\/p>\nEcclesiastes 2<\/span>New American Standard Bible (NASB)<\/span><\/h3>\n
The Futility of Pleasure and Possessions<\/span><\/h3>\n