The Pleasures of Every Day Life

O Sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth.

Sing unto the Lord, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day.

Psalms 96, 1-2

Do you know someone who seems to have everything, a big comfortable house to live in, a great car and fine clothes, but still doesn't seem to be happy? On the other hand, do you know someone who has barely enough to eat but is happy? Most of us fall somewhere in between those two extremes and some of us are happy in our lives and some of us aren't. Think about someone that you know that always seems unhappy. What is that person's major complaint about life? Most likely an unhappy person has a long list of things that he or she wants, but finds that life is just too unfair for them to have those things. Of course it goes without saying that a person who always seems happy is content with whatever they already have.

Let's imagine for a minute that we know two very different girls who lead very similar lives. Mary and Susan (Change the names if you need to) are sisters. Their parents work hard and are able to provide their girls a fairly comfortable life. Since both parents work, the girls are expected to share in most of the household chores. Their mother has worked out a very effective plan so that neither of the girls gets stuck doing the same chores every night. The sisters spend about the same amount of time each week washing dishes, doing laundry and cleaning. Mary and Susan's parents are very careful to make sure that each of their daughters is fairly well dressed and that they both have as many of the things that their friends do as they can afford. So you see, these two girls have just about identical lifestyles. But you would never know it to talk to them.

Everyone says that Mary is a joy to be around. She is always smiling and always eager to help anyone that she can. But Susan rarely smiles. No matter what her parents do for her she knows someone whose parents do more. For some reason on Susan's nights to do the dishes, at least in Susan's opinion, they are always dirtier than when it is Mary's turn. That pile of laundry always looks bigger when it's Susan's night to fold. Susan also feels that she is prettier than Mary is, so she deserves better clothes more often than Mary does. Susan never lets Mary wear her clothes, but Mary is always more than glad to lend Susan anything that she has. And to top it all off, Mary has more friends than Susan. Susan can't, and probably never will, figure out why.

What is the difference between these two sisters? Why is one happy with her life and the other one not? The difference can be summed up in one word--attitude. I recently read somewhere that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. Susan is simply not able to take pleasure in the little things in life that can make it enjoyable. Mary can sit and watch a brilliant sunset or cuddle with a warm puppy and be perfectly happy. Susan can't see the big deal about the sun going down, after all it does it every day and then it gets too dark to play outside. Susan gets very frustrated with their puppy too because he doesn't know how to do any cool tricks. Mary likes to just sit and talk to her mother and just feel her mother's love for her. Susan wants Mother to do more things to show her how much she is loved.

Mary is very fortunate. She has the ability to enjoy the pleasures of everyday life. Mary can sit for hours, watching fireflies dance in the yard. Mary can turn on the radio and do any kind of chore while she sings along with the music and suddenly she's finished. Mary enjoys life because she enjoys the little pleasures that happen every day in our lives, a baby's smile, warm sunshine on her face, or the pitter-patter of raindrops on a window. If you go through life expecting great things to always happen to you, you will be constantly disappointed. But if you take the time to seek out the nice little things that happen every day then your days on this earth will be filled with joy and wonder.