You Won't Work Your Way to Happiness - Try This Instead

I am a huge fan of my to-do list. I am a huge fan of my to-do list because I love the feeling of getting stuff done. I love being able to think back on my day and say: I worked to accomplish these ten things.

There is a part of me that whispers: “you’ll be happy if only you do all the things that you need to do. You’ll feel peace when your house is clean, you are caught up on work, and when you are perfectly organized.” 

So I accomplish things and I check things off my to-do list. There is a nagging feeling in the back of my mind, almost always, that reminds me of all the things I have yet to finish. 

Can anyone relate? 

We live in such an accomplished-based society where running around constantly helps us feel as if we are doing something. And doing something is what matters - right? 

I think we all know, on some level, and I think we might need a reminder - we can’t work our way to happiness and peace. 

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
- Psalm 46:10

What we can do it let go. Let go of our idea that our accomplishments reflect our self-worth. Let go of the feeling that we will be happy when something gets done. If we live that way, happiness is an always distant idea. There is always something more that needs to be done. 

What we can try is taking a moment to be still. Take a moment to simply rest in the quiet knowledge that God loves us regardless of what we’ve accomplished that day. He loves us even when we do absolutely nothing to further our goals. He only asks us to be still and to be present with him. 

You won’t work your way to feeling happy and at peace. You won’t work your way to being satisfied when satisfaction is an ever-moving target. What you can work towards is being still and being present. Be still, and know that He is God.