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Read Ecclesiastes 1:12-18

“I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit” (v. 14).

Are most people happy? Are you happy? Dennis Wholey, author of Are You Happy?, reports that “According to expert opinion, perhaps only 20% of Americans are happy.” He goes on to say that these experts would probably agree with the wry definition of happiness offered by a psychiatrist, Thomas Szasz, who said, “Happiness is an imaginary condition, formerly attributed to the dead, now usually attributed by adults to children and by children to adults.” The writer of Ecclesiastes had the opportunity and the means to look for happiness in every possible experience, and yet his despondent conclusion was that it was “all vanity and vexation of spirit.” Like Solomon, the British poet, Lord Byron, lived a dissolute life of wine, women, and song. And yet as he lay dying at the age of thirty-six, he wrote, “the worm, the grief, and the canker are mine alone.” This is absolutely true of life — without a vital relationship with Jesus Christ. However, it is altogether true that “Jesus is the joy of living!” Amy Carmichael who poured out her life as a missionary in India serving God and others said it well: “There is nothing dreary and doubtful about life. It is meant to be continually joyful. We are called to a settled happiness in the Lord whose joy is our strength.” (Michael R. Williams)

“Let us leave sadness to the devil and his angels. As for us, what can we be but rejoicing and gladness?” (Francis of Assisi).

Read Daniel 1:5-17

“Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink” (v. 12).

Psychologist Walter Mischel performed an experiment which seems very similar to that proposed by Daniel. Preschool children were told they could have one marshmallow immediately. However, if they would wait while Dr. Mischel ran an errand, they could have two marshmallows at his return. Some preschoolers grabbed the marshmallow immediately. Those who waited struggled with self-control by covering their eyes, resting their heads on their arms, talking to themselves, singing, or sleeping. Those who persevered received the two-marshmallow reward. The experiment, however, was not complete. The participants were monitored in a follow-up study. It was discovered that those who waited for an extra marshmallow were, as adolescents, still able to delay gratification. They were more socially competent, self-assertive, and better able to cope with the frustrations of life. On the other hand, those who demanded instant gratification were, as adolescents, more likely to be stubborn, indecisive, and stressed. Edmund Burke, author, orator, political theorist, philosopher, and member of the English Parliament in the 1700s made a pertinent statement which concisely states the necessity of practicing personal self-control when he said, “Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains on their own appetites. Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there is without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.” (L. Gayle Woods)

“It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters” (Edmund Burke).