Happiness

"Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude".

When my children were small, we used to drive every year for vacation.  We never had alot of money, so we would drive and visit others.  I am sure we made an interesting picture as we drove along on the highway.  Remember, this was back when we didn't need to wear seatbelts and keeping your kids contained was never easy.  We had a large station wagon that was maroon in color.  The kids would open the windows and hang their hands out, their legs out, and even their heads if I didn't catch them at it quick enough.
They fought over the air conditioner, and when they wanted something, they would climb right over the seats to get it.  We would load whatever luggage did not fit into the station wagon, onto the top rack.  The seats were loaded with children, blankets, pillows, food and anything else that they might "need".  In the front seat, I would be listening to the radio to try and drown out the noise and try and calm the fighting taking place in the back seats as well as negotiate through the traffic and find the right turn offs. It was obviously vacation time for our family and everyone on the road could tell.  I had a bumper sticker on the back which read, “Are we having fun yet?”

I laugh about this scene whenever I recall it. Now that I am not living in that moment, I don't remember all the frustration and chaos, I remember the blessings of being together as a family.  I also remember how much fun we really did have together.  Some people pursue happiness, always looking for the next best thing, looking to have more "fun".  Their entire lives are spent in the largely unfulfilled pursuit of "happiness".  How sad is it that so many of us are looking somewhere else for the rare gift of happiness, when we have it right within our reach.  All we have to do is to see the evidence that the source of all happiness is right within ourselves.