Happiness Is a Beautiful By-Product

Count Leo Tolstoy, one of the all time scholars of Russia, struggled in his search for happiness. Once while going through a very difficult time (sound familiar?) He went for a long walk in a deep forest. There he found an old peasant sitting on a log, eating a meager lunch of black bread. After sitting together for a while, Tolstoy said, “My friend I have been looking for a happy man, and I believe I have found him in you.” Then Tolstoy inquired further, “Where did you find such happiness.”

In an instant the old man became the tutor and the brilliant Tolstoy the pupil, as he mused: “Sir, I found it in the only place where you can find it in this troublesome world. I found it in God. You find God, Sir, and you will be alive and vital and happy.”

Try an instant replay: “alive, and vital, and happy.”

In the unconditional surrender of your life to Jesus Christ you will find unconditional happiness. Thereafter search the New Testament, and you will find the teachings that will enable you to grow in grace and knowledge. Be patient and persistent in doing so.

As an athlete playing basketball in Brazil an elderly missionary gave me a book in which she inscribed, “One can’t expect to amount to much for God who isn’t often, and long alone with Him.”

That is an often overlooked essential.