Happy New Year!

It is my conservative guess that Happy New Year has been expressed a zillion times over the past 36 or so hours to both friend and stranger, and I believe that most of the expressions have been sincere. Strangely, however, most of them will prove to be futile, as will be evidenced by the fact that most will live this entire year in a perpetual state of depression--a far cry from happiness.

What is happiness? It seems that most of us think it is the fruit of having enough money, enjoying good health, experiencing loving marriages, raising obedient children, working at good jobs, sharing healthy relationships, and being involved in growing, caring churches; however, I know plenty of folk who experience all of the above (at least most) but have not found happiness, not even close. What makes it so illusive?

Larry Crabb in his book, Shattered Dreams, said that God has a much higher purpose for our lives than our mere happiness and that purpose is for us to find ultimate fulfillment in Jesus. Well, if this is true (and I think it is), then we must realize that we are seeking for God's second best (if not third or fourth), when finding happiness is our primary pursuit.

On the surface, this sounds great; however, notice the title of Larry's book! Unless our dreams (having enough money, experiencing loving marriages, raising obedient children, working at good jobs, sharing healthy relationships, and being involved in growing, caring churches) are shattered, we will never find ultimate fulfillment in Jesus. What we will do is continue to seek for happiness and, I might add, at tremendous cost. Surely, we all know that nothing (and I do mean nothing) compares to the joy of finding ultimate fulfillment in Jesus. When we settle for less, we lose--BIGTIME!

I wonder what would happen, if we changed the proverbial Happy New Year to May Your Dreams be Shattered? Yes, I know that I am a bit of a renegade but I thought I would ask you, anyway. If you are like me, many of your dreams have already shattered and you do NOT care for more "shattering" but we all know that God is quite determined to accomplish His purpose in our lives and to the best of my knowledge, He never asks for our permission.

It is so good to know that in spite of us all, God has our best interests at heart, He loves us without any condition, He forgives us eternally, and He continuously lavishes His grace upon our lives!

May your dreams be shattered! (If you missed my point, that will anger you, so I hope you got it!) If you didn't, send me a comment or question and I will be happy to dialogue with you!

And by the way, I do pray that you have a wonderful 2006!