A Happy New Year! This is the wish expressed throughout the world by millions who celebrate the first day of January as the beginning of a new year. How to attain an abiding sense of happiness —this is one of the deep desires of mankind. The writer of the book of Ecclesiastes, seeking joy and contentment in material things and pleasures, ended his search by declaring (1:14), "All is vanity and vexation of spirit." And he concluded that the best way to live is to find happiness in one's daily work and to enjoy in peace such things as one may possess.
Although the Messiah is pictured in the prophecy of the Old Testament as "despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Isa. 53:3), yet Christ Jesus, our great Exemplar, testified that he was a man of joy. This is evidenced in his talk with his disciples toward the end of his earthly career when he promised them rich fruitage if they obeyed his commandments. He said (John 15:11), "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."
Both in his teachings and in his example of joyous living, the Way-shower has given us the assurance that if we abide in him, that is, continue in his word and follow in his footsteps, we shall enjoy the enduring happiness which comes not from earthly things but from God Himself. In her book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, writes (p. 57): "Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to share it."
