Seventh in a series of articles from the booklet A Woman at Prayer by Rev. Conlith Overman, (1962)
ON PEACE OF MIND
There is a pearl of great price to be had.
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| Sermon on the Mount by Carl Bloch |
Two eminent scholars in a book* make much of the unhappiness of contemporary women. " Never before in the history of the world" say the writers, has there been more unhappiness among women. And this, they go on to state in an age when women's rights, freedom, the feminine suffrage have won the day.
We shall not quarrel with these eminent scholars nor question their statistics, nor object to their solution of the problem. We mention the book to point up the fact that there are unhappy women in the world today.
What can be done about unhappiness? Well, first we can understand whence comes unhappiness. In every case we find that the unhappy person is the victim of wrong emphasis. The person assigns too great a value to some one factor of human living; or undervalues some other factor that ought to be highly regarded.
We can say that the unhappy person is out of touch with reality. She lives in a dream world, and the dreams turn out to be all nightmares.
By way of illustration, suppose that a person feels that it is absolutely essential always to have her own way. That is what she lives for. She will not, as she boasts, play second fiddle to anybody. Can you imagine a more unhappy person? To have one's way always is to want to be God; and that is impossible.
We have said that unhappiness is the product of placing the wrong emphasis. We can enumerate several possibilities for this wrong emphasis: Material possessions, power over our fellowmen, unlimited pleasures, worldly success, peace at the expense of principle. Anybody who places too high a value on the items in this list is courting unhappiness.
Our Savior came into this world to show us the way to happiness, both in this life and in the life to come. And thus at the beginning of his public ministry he gave us His 'formula for happiness.' This formula is found in the fifth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel. It is commonly known as the Eight Beatitudes.
Instead of the colorless word "blessed," the original Greek text uses "makairos" which means happy. So Christ actually said: "Happy are the poor of spirit ... Happy are the meek ... Happy are they that mourn . . . Happy are they who hunger and thirst after justice . . . Happy are the merciful ... Happy are the clean of heart... Happy are the peacemakers ... Happy are they who suffer persecution for justice' sake . . ."
The Beatitudes are Christian points of emphasis. If we stress in our lives what Christ mentions in the Beatitudes we will enjoy happiness. There will be no confusion of mind for us. We will know with the greater certitude of Faith what is best for us.
* There may have only been one book in 1960, but since then there have been thousands and after all the uproar of the feminist movement since then, nobody seems any happier.
4 comments:
Just had a discussion similar to this. "Fun" and "happiness" in the world's eyes are not the "very good" things God created. It is Satan's way to deceive us to turn us away from God's good ways and make us feel gypped. Loving God, others, and delighting in His ways are awesome - b/c God made them that way! Satan's ways are counterfeit... and leave us miserable in the end.
p.s. slight segue here: speaking of happiness, have the bluebirds returned to your feeder?
I have not noticed any more bluebirds, but the finches are gold again. They keep stopping by, but we have given up on birdseed. The raccoons empty the feeder every night.
perhaps bring the feeder in at night?? or do they maraud during daylight as well?
We did bring the feeder in almost every night - but you can't forget even once. The raccoons got all the feed in the end. Now nobody gets any! That'll teach 'em!
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