A Quest for Happiness.

Isaiah 55:1-6
1 "Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
hear me, that your soul may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.
4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander of the peoples.
5 Surely you will summon nations you know not,
and nations that do not know you will hasten to you,
because of the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor."
6 Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.

Unfortunately, in this day and age, money is everything. It's bringing more and more contentment when there's a bit more in a particular paycheck. You have to make so many decisions everyday on whether or not you can afford to buy something because of the economy. At least, I know I do since I've never had a source of income. You have to look at the big picture and see what the benefits are. There are so many items out there that look impressive, but you just have to wait sometimes until it's more reasonable for your wallet.

To give you a bit of a figurative comparison, think of a puzzle. When you start a puzzle, and you don't have all the pieces, it can be rather disappointing. Life is like that too. We can spend so much time finding pieces and putting them all together despite some missing parts. We can spend so much money trying to buy happiness while something's still not totally fixed.

Maybe the parts of the puzzle are missing because you didn't organize them enough? Do you have God as the center piece one second and then move him out the next? When it feels normal that God seems distant from us, sinning becomes easier. Thus, our judgment of what exactly is missing can be difficult.

While money seems to bring about happiness today because you can buy something of material value, you have to ultimately remember that God offers complete satisfaction. May God use his will to find and add in the empty pieces of the puzzle in your life.