ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
March 15, 2022
I was looking for a quote the other day, and in the process came across another quote that I had never read before. It was from Helen Keller, and she said, “No one has a right to consume happiness without producing it.” I both agree and disagree. In a sort of generic way, I am in total agreement. People should not think of themselves as simply consumers of happiness, but producers and distributors. But today, I think about those in Ukraine, families frightened and fleeing. For a while, I want nothing more than for them to be consumers of happiness. For all who truly suffer, whether at the hand of a dictatorial thug or at the hand of an everyday neighborhood thug, such folks should be given rest and a period to simply be on the receiving end of whatever might bring happiness. It might be a little selfish or even materialistic, but I am ok with that. If a child in a war zone would be happy tonight sitting on a couch, eating popcorn and watching a Disney movie, I don’t find that desired happiness to be outside of the heart of Jesus. It sort of encourages me to work harder on finding ways of producing and distributing that happiness in the lives of others, hoping that maybe some small gift of happiness will have enough of a ripple effect to bring happiness to someone who wouldn’t otherwise know happiness.
May the life I live and the choices I make help bring happiness to the lives of those who circumstance has seized every ounce of potential happiness. May the happiness I know, O Kind and Gentle God, never be something I accept without a sense of responsibility. Amen.
