New Year 2006

Happy New Year.

“Happy New Year.” How does that phrase make you feel? Over the last few days you’ve probably heard it, and said it yourself, countless times. To your loved ones – of course – also to colleagues, to friends, and to the neighbour down the street, whose name you don’t even know – and whom you maybe even don’t talk to except at Christmas or New Year.

“Happy New Year.” How would you react if someone replied to you, “Happy, you’ve got to be joking,” and then went into a list of all the reasons why 2007 is going to be the most miserable year ever.

Happiness is, of course, a relative thing. What makes my children happy – listening to their music at incredibly high decibel levels, drives me up the wall. But then, they’re not too happy when I insist on listening to talk radio in the car.

I heard someone on the radio the other day, and I wish I could remember who it was, who stated that happiness is perhaps the worst criteria on which to base a life. And there is logic in what they are saying. For even the most fulfilling activities in life bring rewards that far exceed happiness -- and have areas where happiness does not exist. Ask, for instance, the Marathon runner how happy he is as his muscles ache and his lungs are near to bursting – yet he is very fulfilled. Or the teacher who works with troubled and rebellious children, yet who give her a great deal of satisfaction as she sees them very slowly progress.

And Happy New Year may be inappropriate for other reasons – major exams meaning countless hours of research and study. Financial insecurities forcing us to difficult choices for the family. Political instability, terrorism, loneliness, bereavement. There are so many reasons why we might not be happy in the New Year.

And yet, before you "switch off", let me tell you how I think this happiness thing works best. A little story for you.

An old man was sitting by the roadside outside a small town. It was a sunny day and he was just sitting, enjoying the view, and watching people go by. As he sat there a stranger came up to him. “Good sir,” the stranger enquired, “can you tell me what the people in this town are like?”

Rather than answering directly the old man asked a question in return: “How were people in the last town you visited?”

“Oh fine! A very friendly town. Hospitable and very helpful. I had a great time there”

“You will find,” replied the old man, “that this town is exactly the same.”

The stranger thanked the old man and went on his way. Yet it was not long before another stranger asked almost exactly the same question – to which the old man gave the same answer: “How were people in the last town you visited?”

“Oh!” replied the second stranger. “They were a grumpy and unhelpful lot. I’ve never found such a miserable group of people in my life.”

“Well,” replied the old man, “I think you’re about to. You’ll probably find the people in this town to be exactly the same.”

The apostle Paul says, “I've learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances.” Philip. 4:11 (MESSAGE)

The truth behind that message is that there are times in life when we’ll be surrounded by good things – and life may well be joyous. There are other times when we are going to struggle. Albert Barnes commentary on the New Testament points out how important the word “learned” is in that text. Contentment is not necessarily something that comes naturally. But if we find ourselves in a difficult situation he indicates that Paul had learnt a lesson:

. . . that a spirit of impatience does no good, remedies no evil, and supplies no want; that God could provide for him in a way which he could not foresee, and that the Saviour was able abundantly to sustain him. A contented mind is an invaluable blessing, and is one of the fruits of religion in the soul. It arises from the belief that God is right in all his ways. Why should we be impatient, restless, discontented? What evil will be remedied by it? What want supplied? what calamity removed? “He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast” (Proverbs 15:15 KJV); and one of the secrets of happiness is to have a mind satisfied with all the allotments of Providence . (Barnes’ Notes on the Bible, Volume 15, Ephesians – Philemon. P 338.)

I don’t know what 2007 has in store, either for you or for me, but on the basis of the Apostle Paul’s wisdom I would, very sincerely, wish you a Happy New Year.

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