{"id":6803,"date":"2019-11-16T09:35:30","date_gmt":"2019-11-16T09:35:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rosesweet.com\/?p=6803"},"modified":"2022-07-16T01:13:25","modified_gmt":"2022-07-16T01:13:25","slug":"riding-the-rail-to-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rosesweet.com\/riding-the-rail-to-happiness\/","title":{"rendered":"Riding the Rail to Happiness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adapted from A Catholic Woman\u2019s Guide to Happiness <\/em><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Life is like a journey, taken on a train,
\nWith a pair of travelers at each windowpane.
\nI may sit beside you all the journey through,
\nOr I may sit elsewhere, never knowing you.
\nBut if fate should make me sit by your side,
\nLet\u2019s be pleasant travelers; it\u2019s so short a ride.\u00a0 <\/em>Anonymous<\/p>\n

Happiness is a great adventure<\/strong><\/h5>\n

When I consider the word \u201cjourney\u201d\u2014often used for the spiritual life\u2014I hear a loud whistle, the shout of \u201cAll aboard!\u201d and think of people on a railroad car, gazing out the window at lovely and passing landscapes, their suitcases stored high, and the roly-poly, mustachioed conductor coming down the aisle to collect their tickets. While I\u2019d love life to be such an idyllic train ride, for me it\u2019s often been more of a combination of a wild Western, a Stephen King horror story, a Midsomer murder mystery, and a Jurassic Park nightmare. Looking for happiness can be quite an adventure!<\/em><\/p>\n

The search can be deceptive, especially with cunning and seductive voices from inside our own head, or from others, beckoning us this way and that. It\u2019s tough to stay on track! C.S. Lewis said that there is no neutral ground in the universe; every square inch, every second, is claimed by God and counter-claimed by Satan.[i]<\/a> The battle to destroy our happiness is real.<\/p>\n

Happiness is the mother of all desires<\/h5>\n

I was eleven years old when I first read a book about happiness. For Christmas, in 1962 my younger sister, Barb, bought our mother the first in a popular series of small, hardcover gift books by Charles Schulz (of \u201cPeanuts\u201d fame) called Happiness is a Warm Puppy<\/em>. Barb let me read it before it was wrapped and placed under the tree.<\/p>\n

Mom was delighted! The Cuban missile crisis\u2014by which our nation had been deeply shaken by the threat of Soviet nuclear arms\u2014had just died down, and many people were looking for an emotional security blanket. Schulz had created this simple book of drawings and text in one day, and it arrived in bookshops with a letter that read: \u201cIt won’t change the world, but we hope it will make things a little more pleasant for us survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n

The charming volume\u2014<\/em>with its sweet, funny, and comforting cartoon characters wisely expounding on happiness\u2014sold millions and became a favorite of readers of all ages. Was the book\u2019s tremendous success really about the little round-faced boy, Charlie Brown, and his dog, Snoopy\u2014or about that unquenchable human desire for happiness?<\/p>\n

Are happiness and joy the same?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Some have tried to distinguish between \u201chappiness\u201d and \u201cjoy\u201d, insisting that the first is wordly, vain, and maybe even sinful and the other elevated and holy. This artificial distinction is unfounded and not taught by the Church; in fact, translations of the Bible use the words happiness, joy, and blessedness interchangeably in hundreds of verses. Even our dictionaries define joy as \u201ca feeling of great pleasure and happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, what is the difference, if any? You can experience profound joy at the birth of your first child or grandchild; the saints enjoy eternal happiness. They are both good but there are various levels <\/em>of happiness and joy; the lower levels<\/em> are good . . . but fleeting. The higher levels are richer and more enduring. Trying to push them apart from one another risks separating what God has joined together: heaven and earth, body and soul. It is good to volunteer selflessly in a soup kitchen and it is also good to enjoy a Saturday afternoon pedicure. Both produce happiness, albeit one has greater long-term value.\u00a0 Let\u2019s not slip into the old heresy, \u201cSpirit good, body bad,\u201d thereby demonizing the physical world and all the pleasures and joys therein that God gave us.<\/p>\n

In my book, I explore the classic \u201cfour levels of happiness,\u201d all of which we begin to experience as children in our families, from getting that bike for Christmas, to being able to ride it, to freely sharing it with others. Each level points to a higher one, until we find the deepest desire of our hearts. And as Catholics, we know what\u2014or rather, Who\u2014that really is. Are you ready to explore the four levels? Then, grab your bag, settle in, and enjoy the scenery as we ride into ancient and mysterious territories! All Aboard<\/em>!<\/p>\n

Reflections:
\n<\/em>What have been some of your happiest moments?
\nWhen have you felt lost and uncertain about where to turn?
\nWhat is your<\/em> definition of happiness?<\/p>\n

Get the Book HERE.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Photo: Napa Valley Wine Train<\/span>
\n<\/a>1 C.S. Lewis, Christian Reflections <\/em>(Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2014)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6804,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,71],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nRiding the Rail to Happiness - Rose Sweet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/rosesweet.com\/riding-the-rail-to-happiness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Riding the Rail to Happiness - Rose Sweet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/rosesweet.com\/riding-the-rail-to-happiness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rose Sweet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-16T09:35:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-16T01:13:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/rosesweet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/wine-train-scaled-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rose Sweet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rose Sweet\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Riding the Rail to Happiness - 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