Sabbath 21 August, 2021: "Don’t Lose Heart - Is Being Happy a Skill or a Gift?"

Sabbath Sermon: "Don’t Lose Heart - Is Being Happy a Skill or a Gift?"
(Recorded and Premiered under NZ Covid-19 Lockdown Level-4 Procedures.)
Being happy is a lot harder than it sounds. Childhood allows us a false sense of security - happiness just seems to come so easily when you’re a child. But slowly all the responsibilities of life start to creep in - all the stresses of life. All the expectations. All the obligations. They start to crowd you in and weigh you down. And happiness becomes hard.
Now, with the arrival in Auckland of the super contagious Delta variant of COVID-19, on top of the alarming expansion of the pandemic in Australia, Fiji, and some other Pacific countries and across the globe happiness becomes harder still. Then there are global warming fears, floods, forest fires, earthquakes, and the sad plight of many in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
The social impact on society is evidenced by increased crime, violence, suicide, and depression. For example, a survey of mental health and the coronavirus found that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the mental health of 59% of people in the United States.
So, is there a key to being happy, to not losing heart when everything around us turns to custard? Is Being Happy a Skill or a Gift? That’s our topic at 11 am this Sabbath.
Peter Miller
**For more inspirational messages or to contact our Pastors, please check out our website: www.rocsda.org.nz **