where is the love?

i've been sitting at the dealership for about 1.5 hours now and have been watching the news channel that is on the television. the current topic of discussion is about happiness...particularly, they are discussing a study that describes the happiness of men vs. women. the study has shown that women are not as happy as men. they have interviewed several people and "gone out on the streets" to get some opinions. but as i watch this segment, i can't help but react.

many of the women they have interviewed have said that happiness is found in career advancement, higher education and the degrees associated with higher ed, and the overall competitiveness with men (a woman trying to make it in a "man's world"). one woman even said that happiness came from working her way up the corporate ladder so she could buy more things to make her happy.

all of this spins into an amazing world of marketing in which we live in. i passed by an ihop advert today that said, "come hungry. leave happy" and i can't help but feel sick by our society's constant drive to find happiness in things. in the case of ihop, i won't be happy unless i have a full stomach. and then i look around and see how obese our society is. consumer goods are no better. marketing would lead us to believe that we won't be happy unless we have the glorious experience of dyson vacuum cleaner or dove body wash.

even in my own life, i suffer from consumerism. i try to rebel against it, saying that "God is all i need." i try, but fail miserably at this. yet, God intends His children to need only Him! in my own life, i am bombarded by expenses and a dwindling bank account, yet i still try to grab hold of the american dream; i still worry about FICA scores and debt-to-income ratios.

why is it so difficult for us to reject what our society sees as "successful" and just rely upon what God will give us. does the Bible not say that if God will take care of the birds in the sky, how much more will He take care of us?

so here i am, listening to a bunch of "experts" describe how we "should" find happiness...and yet, God is not mentioned one bit. what they do mention is that to be happy we should focus on other "things" rather than the "things" we are focusing on. but no mention of God.

what would it look like if we really took action and lived out what God plans for us? what would our lives be if we focused on true happiness in God, rather than temporary happiness in things? to quote a buick commercial, "it's not the new lexus. it's not the new audi. it's not the new mercedes benz."