Wholeness and Happiness

Photo by Amir Esrafili on Unsplash 

"We all want to be happy. And we all owe it to ourselves to try and find out what will make us happy.”

--Bindi in The Vibrant Years: A Novel by Sonali Dev

I agree that this is what we want. What troubles me is that Christian teaching tells us that this is not what God wants for us--that instead God wants us to be holy. But if God is the perfect parent, and my parenting is, when at its best, a reflection of God's, then why wouldn't God want us to be happy? Seeing my children happy is one of the best parts of being a parent. 

It may be that preachers have meant to say that God wants us to be happy and holy, but I have heard it as holiness at the expense of happiness. 

The Bible says that "A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones." (Proverbs 17:22 NRSV) So isn't happiness good, too?

Ecclesiastes says that happiness is a gift from God:  "I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God." (Ecclesiastes 3:12‭-‬13 NIV)

If only happiness were that simple. Or is it?

Many verses in the Bible have "blessed" in one translation and "happy" in another. I have been dismissive of the verses that use "happy," trusting more in the word "blessed," but maybe I've been missing out. Maybe God really does want us to be happy. 

Thanks, God.