Today I am a happy man. There is just something about fall
that brings it out of me. I can be in the worst of humor or not feeling well
and yet bring me out into a beautiful cool fall day and everything else just
kinds of fades away. The wind blowing through the trees is like healing balm to
my soul, the cool air wraps around me like willowy gauze, and my spirit and
soul breathe a sigh of contentment.
One of the definitions of being happy is “Feeling or
showing pleasure or contentment." So I guess, for today, at least, I have found
happiness because my soul in indeed content.
I think that probably all of us can think of things or
times when we have felt happiness and contentment. The birth of a child, our
wedding day, seeing old friends or perhaps, like me, nature, is what does it
for you, but I am willing to bet that most people would not associate their
house of worship with the idea of happiness, this is not true of everyone, of
course because I have met some really enthusiastic people in my time in
churches, but really how many of you would say that your Synagogue or church
service makes you happy? I have heard some hair raising or tear jerking sermons
from time to time but many times I have sat in houses of worship where it felt
more like a funeral service than a celebration of G-D, though in all fairness I
have also been in places that their services keep you rocking and praising G-D
for hours afterwards, and that is really the point G-D actually commands that
we are happy when worshiping Him.
Deuteronomy 16 says it three times. Verse 11 “You shall
rejoice before the Lord your God with your son and daughter, your male and
female slave, the Levite in your communities, and the stranger, the fatherless
and the widow in your midst, at the place where the Lord your G-D will choose
to establish His name. Verse 14 adds “You shall rejoice in your festival “and
at the end of verse 15 “you shall have nothing but joy.”
Perhaps the reason that there are so many people, who don’t
believe in any kind of G-D, is because we are not following His command to be
happy when we are celebrating or worshiping Him. Too many religious
institutions are filled with pomp and circumstance and pageantry, but they also
seem to be lacking any kind of joy. Why should an atheist believe that there is
a god when those of us who claim to worship Him, or Her ,depending on your
point of view, are unhappy miserable people? Why should they believe when we
fight each other over differences in religious points of view or form? We need
to be happy ourselves, accept others differences, no matter their faith, and
then we can project that happiness on to others who don’t believe. If they
never come to a place where they believe in G-D, they might at least get to see
G-D through us, and that alone might make a difference.
Shalom
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