{"id":212,"date":"2021-07-15T17:26:49","date_gmt":"2021-07-15T17:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/2021\/07\/15\/can-we-learn-to-be-happy-2\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T20:31:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T20:31:51","slug":"can-we-learn-to-be-happy-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/can-we-learn-to-be-happy-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Can we learn to be happy?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Note: In this time of Thanksgiving, we thought it was appropriate to repeat a piece Pastor Jim wrote a few years ago about happiness.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, the magazine Fast Company<\/em><\/a> featured a website with an intriguing mission. The goal of Happify<\/em><\/a> is to make you happier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The developers of  Happify <\/em>are working from an intriguing premise: that happiness is a skill which, like all skills, can be acquired through practice. The website is designed is to provide users with exercises that will help build their capacity for happiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happify<\/em> identifies five skill-sets, that are key conditions for fully lived lives. These are \u201csavoring,\u201d \u201cthanking,\u201d \u201caspiring,\u201d \u201cgiving,\u201d and \u201cempathizing.\u201d It\u2019s all based on the work of Martin Seligman<\/a> and the field of positive psychology he pioneered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not a research psychologist, so I have no academic basis on which to evaluate\u00a0Happify\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>claims. (If someone is reading this has a background in this area, I\u2019d love to get together and\u00a0talk<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having said that, the five key areas do have a level of common sense truth about them. What\u2019s more they have striking similarities to aspects of Biblical teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSavoring,\u201d the ability be in the moment, reminds me of Jesus\u2019 encouragement to consider the lilies and the birds of the air and not worry about tomorrow.<\/a> The call to thankfulness is all over the Scriptures, not least in the Psalms<\/a>.  \u201cAspiring\u201d recalls Paul\u2019s admonition to offer oneself as a living sacrifice<\/a> and to press on toward the goal<\/a>. \u201cGiving\u201d has lots of parallels in the Bible including Jesus\u2019 evaluation of the gift of the widow<\/a>. Empathy is encouraged<\/a> by Paul as a sign of the unity of the body of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not surprised by these parallels. Perhaps you aren\u2019t either. What\u2019s good to remember is that these Biblical admonitions to a more mindful life are directed to those who are already aware of God\u2019s undeserved grace for them, who trust in God\u2019s promise of forgiveness and life. and who are now called to live their lives as signs of the resurrection which is their hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happiness, of itself, won\u2019t save you. But attentive development of the skills and attitudes that lead to happiness might make you a better witness to the resurrection that Christ has won for you. Happify<\/em> believes it will make you feel better and they\u2019re probably right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pr. Jim<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rev. James A. Wetzstein <\/a>serves as one of our\u00a0university pastors\u00a0at Valpo and takes turns writing weekly reflections.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Note: In this time of Thanksgiving, we thought it was appropriate to repeat a piece Pastor Jim wrote a few years ago about happiness. Recently, the magazine Fast Company featured a website […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":88,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"","author_link":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/author\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/06\/20151211-FJA-Christmas-Advent-Vespers-018-300x200.webp","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":[],"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 5 years ago","modified":"Updated 11 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on July 15, 2021","modified":"Updated on December 18, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on July 15, 2021 5:26 pm","modified":"Updated on December 18, 2025 8:31 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11899,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions\/11899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}