And so, they lived happily ever after.
Right? After the princess kissed the frog and he turned into a prince and they got married, they were always happy.
I picked up my cousin from school today since his mom is out of town, and in the car on the way home he told me about the story he is performing in his Speech & Debate tournament tomorrow. It's the sequel to The Frog Prince, and in it we discover that the prince wishes he were still a frog, a life where he had no responsibilities and could do as he pleased.
"He doesn't like being a prince," my cousin told me. "When he was a frog he could swim all day, but now he has princely duties, dragons to slay, and the princess to take care of. He has to do things to please her -- he has to listen to her! The fairy tales lie to us," he went on. "They tell us we will be happy forever, but no relationship is perfect."
I was struck by this young boy-man's perceptiveness about contentment, and I worked to steer the conversation from cynicism to hope. I heartily agreed with him on one thing: no relationship or situation is perfect, and if you are looking to circumstances to bring you happiness, you will never be happy. The question then becomes, is happiness impossible?
"That is why people commit suicide," he continued. They realize they have been deceived, and that nothing around them is capable of providing happiness.
But what if happiness were a choice, not a set of circumstances or a particular relationship? Not a choice to to manhandle my heart towards gladness through all the dark and disappointing days life may bring, but a choice to look to beyond the dark days we experience under the sun. A choice to be grateful for what is instead of gloomy about what isn't; a choice to set our hearts on God's glory instead of our comfort; a choice to embrace the desire for eternity that has been planted in our hearts instead of wrestling to imbue these fleeting days with lasting meaning.
Paul put it this way: "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. Therefore, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
