Healing the Cracked Pot of Lost Happiness

Most of you are familiar with Murphy's Law: "If anything can go wrong, it will." This philosophical statement seems to be made true by life’s experiences. It is also the butt of many humor lines. I thought it might be of interest to the reader to know the origin of Murphy’s Law:

“Murphy's Law ("If anything can go wrong, it will") was born at Edwards Air Force Base in 1949 at North Base. … It was named after Capt. Edward A. Murphy; an engineer working on Air Force Project MX981, (a project) designed to see how much sudden deceleration a person can stand in a crash. … One day, after finding that a transducer was wired wrong, he cursed the technician responsible and said, "If there is any way to do it wrong, he'll find it." … The contractor's project manager kept a list of "laws" and added this one, which he called Murphy's Law.”

The stories of our lives are similar to this law in so many ways. Each individual life is like a sandy beach being bombarded daily by the differing tides; highs and lows, each shaping the quality of the beach. When the good comes, there is a part of us that feels it should last forever; when the bad comes, it seems to wash from our sight the good, and all we see is the “Murphy” of our lives.

I believe that every one of you is like a fine vessel, a pot made to hold inner happiness. However, our pots may become “cracked” from our struggles and life experiences, and this inner happiness leaks (often pours) from us. Many of you know what inner happiness is, but you have lost it. This happiness is designed to stay with us through our lows and highs, but often we allow the force of the bad tides to shake us, and we become cracked pots that cannot hold this treasure!

I know many precious people who endure all kinds of hardships and yet still have their inner happiness. How do they do this? I know many others lose their inner happiness and yet somehow manage to get it back. How do they do this? I give the reader one possible answer.

The answer is “faith!” Faith has a way of holding happiness, and even if the happiness is lost, it mends the pot so it is once again filled.

Webster defines faith as “(1): firm belief in something for which there is no proof (2): complete trust”

Faith has at its source the concept of complete trust. One of the most difficult things for us to do is to trust completely. The point is that you are created to be happy. You must believe this completely if you are to achieve the abundance in life, the treasure you desire!

Suggestions of help for the cracked pots! Five exercises to strengthen your faith.

1. Prayer and Meditation
2. Exercise the faith you have! Practice it!
3. Develop an attitude of gratitude
4. Stay positive
5. Never give up!

Faith must also have an object – a focal point – someone or something to place your complete trust in. It is here I would like to introduce you to the reason of my happiness – Jesus Christ.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Jesus Christ is the prime source of inner happiness. I know there are other sources of happiness and peace, but He is the only One which offers us eternal life. When I came to Christ, I gave Him, through my trust, my vessel and he filled it with inner happiness and inner peace.

2Co 4:7-10 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

The low tides of your lives do not have to cause you to lose your happiness! Bad things happen to all of us. I was born with a growth birth defect, developed a bad case of diabetes, and endured a toe amputation, diabetic stroke, melanoma, and a kidney transplant. People have often asked me how I could stay so positive. My answer is simple, “My vessel is secured and filled by Jesus Christ!”