THE MEANING OF TRUE LOVE AND HAPPINESS

What is life without love? The source of true happiness and fulfillment can always be traced back to love in one way or another. More than anything else, love is sought after in our lives—within our relationships, occupations; within ourselves. Love gives life meaning and purpose. It fulfills the deepest yearnings of the soul. It quenches our thirst and fills our hearts to overflowing. Love turns darkness to light. Love brings harmony and order out of chaos. Love heals wounds and brings comfort to hurts and pain. Love holds families together. It bonds friendships. Love inspires, revives, and restores.



To love and to be loved is the beauty of life. Many people yearn for peace, love and happiness myself included. Love brings happiness that is what we are made to think from very early stages in life. Must we make others happy for us to be happy too? These are some of the dangerous myths in life that can keep you standing on your way to happiness. It is a bad life where we try to please others throughout our lives. If this fails people usually become bitter, resentful and in most cases hateful to people we fail to please. If we do not resist the planted seed of co-dependence we are doomed to live for others. Happiness just like love is energy and when it is shared it brings out the best results.

Try to think of a moment when you share out a joke with a friend. The laughter brings out bursts of laughter that makes you feel so good. The exchange of this energy we call happiness is what gives a good feeling. A happy person attracts a lot of love because it is easily reflected in out every activity. This creates a strong bond between love and happiness. For instance people will always return your charming smile even though they are strangers. That is the best reflection of self-happiness. On the other hand, if you are frowning and looking ugly and angry, people will helplessly scowl at you. There is a common adage that 'life is hard, and we have to struggle to be happy.'

I tend to differ and I attribute this to our expectations of struggles and problems. It is amazing that when things are moving so swiftly for us we subconsciously wait for the storm to come. Life was meant to be easy but pessimism interferes with the natural flow of happiness in our lives. What your mind expects is what you get so everyone should be careful of his/her expectations. When the romantic relationship is going as it should, lovers panic and wait for a thunderstorm. Fear is a great thing that stands on the way of love and happiness. Fear stops you from following your heart in matters of romantic relationships. You should know that fear, love and relationship cannot coexist in the human heart.

You choose to be happy and to worry less. Open your heart to happiness and you will experience a break through in love and happiness. There are times when you feel a lot of joy in your heart but I insist that the peace you feel within your own skin should not be an occasional feeling. You will have successful romantic relationships if you have a positive relationship with yourself. You and others around you will enjoy life while at the same time relaxing, being who you are without getting out of your way to impress others. There is a misconception that love and happiness is a goal to be attained in the future. Each passing day should bring a new and unique experience to you and your loved one. "We shall travel when we retire", "I am too busy to go for dinner", "I am tired, can we talk later?" and so on should not be your phrases. Enjoy the bliss with no good reason. Know that God intended for us to have love in our lives. This love will give you peace in your life.

1 Corinthians 13:1-8a and 13
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails....And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Colossians 3:14
And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

1 John 3:18
Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

1 John 4:8
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.


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The Great Question. What is the purpose of life?

The Great Question. What is the purpose of life?

Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless.

Bertrand Russell, atheist




I have been told on many occasions that I missed my calling when I didn't go into counseling or therapy. So my idea was to create a blog so to speak with my ideas that I use in my everyday interaction with people in my so called therapy sessions to friends, family and strangers.Work it into a new book using comments from readers and feedback. Just something I am trying. Let me know what you think. Would love your feed back. Misty


Part 1


It's not about you.

The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It's far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.

The search for the purpose of life has puzzled people for thousands of years. That's because we typically begin at the wrong starting point--ourselves. We ask self-centered questions like What do I want to be? What should I do with my life? What are my goals, my ambitions, my dreams for my future? But focusing on ourselves will never reveal our life's purpose. The Bible says, "It is God who directs the lives of his creatures; everyone's life is in his power."

Contrary to what many popular books, movies, and seminars tell you, you won't discover your life's meaning by looking within yourself. You've probably tried that already. You didn't create yourself, so there is no way you can tell yourself what you were created for! If I handed you an invention you had never seen before, you wouldn't know its purpose, and the invention itself wouldn't be able to tell you either. Only the creator or the owner's manual could reveal its purpose.

I once got lost in the mountains. When I stopped to ask for directions to the campsite, I was told, "You can't get there from here. You must start from the other side of the mountain!" In the same way, you cannot arrive at your life's purpose by starting with a focus on yourself. You must begin with God, your Creator. You exist only because God wills that you exist. You were made by God and for God--and until you understand that, life will never make sense. It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny. Every other path leads to a dead end.

Many people try to use God for their own self-actualization, but that is a reversal of nature and is doomed to failure. You were made for God, not vice versa, and life is about letting God use you for his purposes, not your using him for your own purpose. The Bible says, "Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life."

I have read many books that suggest ways to discover the purpose of my life. All of them could be classified as "self-help" books because they approach the subject from a self-centered viewpoint. Self-help books, even Christian ones, usually offer the same predictable steps to finding your life's purpose: Consider your dreams. Clarify your values. Set some goals. Figure out what you are good at. Aim high. Go for it! Be disciplined. Believe you can achieve your goals. Involve others. Never give up.

Of course, these recommendations often lead to great success. You can usually succeed in reaching a goal if you put your mind to it. But being successful and fulfilling your life's purpose are not at all the same issue! You could reach all your personal goals, becoming a raving success by the world's standard, and still miss the purposes for which God created you. You need more than self-help advice. The Bible says, "Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self."

This is not a self-help lecture or advice . It is not about finding the right career, achieving your dreams, or planning your life. It is not about how to cram more activities into an overloaded schedule. Actually, to learn how to do less in life--by focusing on what matters most. It is about becoming what God created you to be.

How, then, do you discover the purpose you were created for? You have only two options. Your first option is speculation. This is what most people choose. They conjecture, they guess, they theorize. When people say, "I've always thought life is . . .," they mean, "This is the best guess I can come up with."

For thousands of years, brilliant philosophers have discussed and speculated about the meaning of life. Philosophy is an important subject and has its uses, but when it comes to determining the purpose of life, even the wisest philosophers are just guessing.

Dr. Hugh Moorhead, a philosophy professor at Northeastern Illinois University, once wrote to 250 of the best-known philosophers, scientists, writers, and intellectuals in the world, asking them, "What is the meaning of life?" He then published their responses in a book. Some offered their best guesses, some admitted that they just made up a purpose for life, and others were honest enough to say they were clueless. In fact, a number of famous intellectuals asked Professor Moorhead to write back and tell them if he discovered the purpose of life!

Fortunately, there is an alternative to speculation about the meaning and purpose of life. It's revelation. We can turn to what God has revealed about life in his Word. The easiest way to discover the purpose of an invention is to ask the creator of it. The same is true for discovering your life's purpose: Ask God.

God has not left us in the dark to wonder and guess. He has clearly revealed his five purposes for our lives through the Bible. It is our Owner's Manual, explaining why we are alive, how life works, what to avoid, and what to expect in the future. It explains what no self-help or philosophy book could know. The Bible says, "God's wisdom . . . goes deep into the interior of his purposes. . . . It's not the latest message, but more like the oldest--what God determined as the way to bring out his best in us."

God is not just the starting point of your life; he is the source of it. To discover your purpose in life you must turn to God's Word, not the world's wisdom. You must build your life on eternal truths, not pop psychology, success-motivation, or inspirational stories. The Bible says, "It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone." Here are three insights into your purpose.

1. You discover your identity and purpose through a relationship with Jesus Christ. If you don't have such a relationship, I will later explain how to begin one, in my opinion.

2. God was thinking of you long before you ever thought about him. His purpose for your life predates your conception. He planned it before you existed, without your input! You may choose your career, your spouse, your hobbies, and many other parts of your life, but you don't get to choose your purpose.

3. The purpose of your life fits into a much larger, cosmic purpose that God has designed for eternity. That's what this blog is about.


You may have felt in the dark about your purpose in life. Congratulations, you're about to walk into the light.

DAY ONE

THINKING ABOUT MY PURPOSE

Point to Ponder: It's not about me.

Verse to Remember: "Everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him." Colossians 1: 16b

Question to Consider: In spite of all the advertising around me, how can I remind myself that life is really about living for God, not myself?