KEYS TO A HAPPY LIFE

3. CULTIVATE YOUR LOVE FOR PEOPLE

"People's feeling about their relationships have a bigger impact on their overall satisfaction with their lives than do their job, income, community, or even physical health,"  says the book Social Psychology. Simply put, in order to be truly happy, humans need to give and receive love.  "If  I . . . do not have love, I am nothing said a Bible writer. -1 Corinthians 13:2. 

It is never too late to cultivate love.  For example, Vanessa had an abusive, alcoholic father.  When she was 14 years old, she ran away from home and stayed in foster homes, as well as in one bad shelter where she remembers begging God for help.  Then, perhaps as an answer to her prayers, she was placed with a family who lived by the Bible principle that "love is patient and kind." (1 Corinthians 143:4)  That environment, coupled with what was learning from her own study of the Bible, helped Vanessa to heal emotionally and progress mentally.  "At school, my grades went from D's and F's to A's and B's," she said.  

Vanessa still bears emotional scars. Nevertheless, she is  now a happily  married mother of two girls. 

Bible principle:  "Clothe yourselves with love,  for it is a perfect bond of union." -Colossians 3:14.

Next time: KEYS TO A HAPPY LIFE/4. BUILD RESILIENCE

From the Awake!  magazine