The Real Secret

Rhonda Byrne has recently published a book entitled The Secret that has become incredibly popular. She purports to share "the secret" with all those who read it. It is, of course, the secret to receiving vast amounts of wealth, health, and happiness. As I think about this topic, I also remember another popular bestseller within the Christian community a while back. It is The Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkinson. Based upon a prayer in the Bible from I Chronicles, Chapter 4, it says this: "And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, 'Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain.' So God granted him what he requested." It seems that many of us are looking for a simple formula that will ensure us all the blessings possible. I believe this formula changes over time as we get older.

For our three year old grandson, Charlie, the formula for happiness comes through receiving toys that he doesn't have at the moment. For example, he has recently become a Star Wars aficionado. Since our move last year to Little Rock, I had saved a box of our son's action figures and fighter vehicles from 1977. I cleaned these up, after collecting dust for thirty years in our attic, and gave them to him. He was excited for about thirty seconds, and then his attention turned to the the color brochure I had also saved which listed all the action figures possible, as well as other toys in the series. He immediately decided that he needed a C3po and a land rover to make his happiness complete.

For our eight year old granddaughter, Caitlyn, the formula for happiness comes through having friends and thinking of ways she can help other people. I have really loved watching this new developmental change within her as she has turned recently from Charlie's formula to a new one for herself. Developmental psychologists tell us that age eight is the time to observe this shift from children's obsession with themselves more toward altruism. We are planning a short trip together during her spring break, and she is excited about choosing small presents for each of the seventeen cousins she will visit in Texas.

For Garlan and me in our thirties, the formula for happiness came from not only buying all the firsts we had never owned in college, i. e. two cars, house, furniture, and fold-out camper, to being successful in our respective careers as comptroller and secondary school teacher. We found somehow that happiness still eluded us, however, with the pressures of combining two careers with good parenting.

For us now in retirement, the formula for happiness centers on enjoyment of the leisure time we have together. We know these are precious moments and that we are approaching in a few years the biblical life span of "three score and twenty." If we are blessed by God to have more time, we hope to continue to travel to Seattle to see our grandson, Cole, and our daughter, Kimberly. We hope to continue small trips around the state of Arkansas with Caitlyn and Charlie, as we have in the last couple of weeks, to see the Old Mill in North Little Rock and to dig for diamonds at the Craters of Diamonds State Park. In short, happiness when one is in her sixties means family. That's the "real" secret.