Augustine was right: "It is the decided opinion of all who use their brains that all men desire to be happy. . . . The happy life which all men desire cannot be reached by any who does not cleave with a pure and holy love to that one supreme good, the unchangeable God.

The human race is homesick for Eden, which only two humans have ever known. We spend our lives chasing peaceful delight, following dead ends or cul-de-sacs in pursuit of home. We know intuitively that we've wandered. What we don't know is how to return. Our lives are largely the story of the often wrong and occasionally right turns we take in our attempts to get home to Happiness with a capital H—God himself.

God cannot give us happiness apart from Himself, because there is no such thing." —C. S. Lewis

A key to enjoying the Christian life is connecting the dots between our happiness and God's provision. When I run with my dog or look at Jupiter dominating the sky over Mount Hood, I experience happiness. Unbelievers are capable of enjoying happiness in the same things, but their happiness can't be as immense or enduring because they're disconnected from the Provider.

In the end, we have two choices: both God and happiness neither God nor happiness

Aim at Heaven and you will get earth 'thrown in': aim at earth and you will get neither."34 We need a generation of heavenly minded people who see human beings and the earth itself not simply as they are, but as God intends them to be.

Perhaps you're afraid of becoming "so heavenly minded you're of no earthly good." Relax—you have nothing to worry about! On the contrary, many of us are so earthly minded we are of no heavenly or earthly good.

And in our search for morality and happiness outside of God, we have effectively lost all three—God, morality, and happiness.

Violation of the sacred in the pursuit of happiness is not truly a source of happiness. In fact, it kills happiness because it can run roughshod over many a victim.

But certainly, to turn to God when all your earthly needs are already met is to express in no certain terms that faith in God is to trust Him even when other supports are within reach.

Seek His face and not His hand.

Calm down, stop trying to figure out the answers, and turn your focus to God.