Feast on four delights for a lasting happiness all year long.
Recharge energy with four lasting treats.
Recipe #1: Don’t take yourself seriously
I just turned 65 and realize I am in the fourth quarter.
I don’t take any pills, but I laugh for medicine.
- Growing up lower middle class, we had fish sticks and Hamburger Helper. My mother called it surf and turf to dress it up.
- The economists have been making the weathermen look good. They have predicted 12 of the last 3 recessions.
- As for politics, “poli” means many. “Ticks” are blood sucking insects.
Kids are resilient because they laugh! Only a few months after birth they laugh once an hour. And by age 4, these clowns laugh on average every four minutes!
God gave us the gift of laughter because He knew we would need it.
Recipe #2: Stick with the best source for hope
Despair seems to have a longer history than hope.
“The Encyclopedia Britannica has columns on love and faith, but not a single word about hope.” Dr. Karl Menninger
Most psychiatrists I ever read agree with Harvard professor Dr. Armand Nicholi, 
“Psychiatrists have long suspected that hope fosters health, both physical and emotional.”
Where do we find hope?
“When we turn to the New Testament,” explains Dr. Nicholi, “we read again and again: ‘Christ Jesus, our hope.’”
God is a poet and He loves living metaphors.
So he sent his Son to listen, empathize and suffer with us while giving us hope.
“Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty…” John 4: 14-15
Recipe #3: Be rich in faith
Each of us needs a vision for the future. We must . . .
- have a purpose bigger than us.
- give ourselves to something we believe.
- allow supernatural inspiration.
“Seeing isn’t believing. It’s only seeing.” George MacDonald
The faith of our fathers withstood dungeon, fire and sword. It’s the same faith that can withstand the dangers and toils of modern life.
“I believe the most vital ingredient of resilience is faith.” Dr. Friedrich Flach
The world does not have a credible basis for articulating hope.
Jesus Christ brought hope by shining a light on our tragedies.
But many of the crowd believed in Him; and they were saying, “When the Christ comes, he will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will he?” John 7:31
Recipe #4: Reconcile Relationships
A lean soul carries grudges. A rich soul forgives and releases.
Giles McCoy had every reason to be bitter the rest of his life.
He barely survived as he watched hundreds of fellow Marines and Navy seamen die at the hands of a Japanese submarine skipper.
The U.S.S. Indianapolis had just completed its top secret mission which was to deliver the Little Boy atomic bomb to Tinian island.
Days later the Indianapolis set sail for the Phillipines. Two weeks before the war ended, the ship was torpedoed.
Giles McCoy, said that the whole ship was lifted ten feet out of water before crashing down in flames.
The Japanese sub fired two torpedos. One hit the magazine and all the ammo in the ship exploded.
- 300 died in the ship
- 579 died in the water
- 316 survived
There were numerous casualties by drowning and many by sharks. The men would team up in groups of ten or twelve hoping to ward off sharks. They could see 20 feet down in the water and see a shark shoot to the surface and attack.
McCoy held a reunion of the survivors on the 49th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, December 7,
1990. And they invited the Japanese skipper, Mochitsura Hashimoto.
Giles McCoy told Hashimoto through a translator, “I forgive you for sinking the Indianapolis and the deaths of hundreds of men for you were doing for your government what I was doing for mine.”
Hashimoto, who became a Shinto priest after the war said, “Thank you for forgiving me. I came here to pray with you for your shipmates whose deaths I caused.”
After a pause of silence, Hashimoto looked at Giles McCoy and shocked everyone when he said, “And I forgive you.” Apprehensive and stunned, no one knew what to say and then Hashimoto explained, “the atomic bomb you delivered to Tinian island was dropped on Hiroshima and every member of my family was killed. I forgive you. You forgive me.”
They embraced in tears.
How are you recharging emotional batteries this holiday season?