Don't Worry, Be Happy!

Perhaps you remember this Bobby McFerrin song that was a big hit in the late 1980s. If you do, you’re probably already tapping your toes and swaying to the music in your head! Click here for a link to the song in case you don’t remember it!

I almost always have a tune or two playing in my head, often triggered by a conversation or something I’m reading. “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” has been on my mind’s play list a couple of times recently. One of these occasions was a discussion at our Wheat Ridge staff retreat. We were talking about Jesus’ encouragement in Matthew 25 to “not worry about your life.” As always, our Lord was expressing concern for the wellness of our bodies, minds and spirits … our whole being. Worry is a spiritual issue, to be sure, a sign of our reluctance to trust God. Worry also impacts us physically and emotionally. It produces unhealthy stress that, if not managed, negatively impacts our minds and bodies. The stress that worries produce can detract from the quality of our life and even shorten our life.

I confess that I’m much better at considering the problems that worry causes than I am about not worrying. In fact, without trying too hard, I can find myself worrying about the problems I cause when I worry! So, I’m grateful for Jesus’ reminder not to worry and to be happy because God loves and provides for me.

“Don’t Worry, Be Happy” came to mind again this week when Holly Fiala, our Vice President of Advancement, forwarded an article highlighting The World Giving Index. This index is a tool resulting from new research by the Charities Aid Foundation in Britain. It’s based on a Gallup Survey which examined the charitable behavior of people in 153 countries representing 95 percent of the world's population. The foundation claims the survey is the largest ever to examine charitable behavior worldwide.

The headline of the brief article in the Philanthropy Journal describes one of the key findings in the research: “Giving Tied More to Happiness than Wealth.” The researchers compared responses from people worldwide to two questions: have you given money to a charity in the last month? And, how happy are you with life? They found that happier people tend to give more than unhappy people. They also found that happiness is a better predictor of generosity than personal wealth.

I’m sure this research will cause fundraisers around the world to search for ways to keep their donors happy, happy, happy! Fortunately, we don’t face this challenge at Wheat Ridge. Our supporters are already happy people (or as my good friend Rich Bimler, past president of Wheat Ridge, would say “Easter people”) who experience joy each day in the knowledge of God’s love made possible in Christ. Their happiness is evident in their generous support for the seeding of new ministries of health and hope through Wheat Ridge, and in their generosity to many other causes.

Long before Gallup polls came along, the apostle Paul understood the connection between happiness and generosity when he wrote that “each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7) We know that God’s love is what makes us cheerful givers!

I don’t know whether Bobby McFerrin wrote his signature song as an expression of his Christian faith. Regardless, I’m grateful that God’s Spirit finds many ways, including Bobby’s delightful and fun song, to remind us of two of God’s great gifts – freedom from worry and the ability to be truly happy…

Here’s a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don't worry, be happy
In every life we have some trouble
When you worry you make it double
Don't worry, be happy...