Quality NOT Quantity

As you get older, you find out that TRUE HAPPINESS is not in how much money you make, or how many degrees you have, or how big your house is, or how fancy your car is.
It’s finding peace and joy and calmness in your life that becomes the most important thing to you.  Your family is what matters to you. Love is what matters to you.  Things that are of quality, not quantity. ~Unknown.

As you get older, do you notice a shift in priorities?  Do you feel things changing within–are you seeking a calmness or peace?  It’s natural.  I think most of us start to feel this way as we get older.

When we are younger it seems to be important to have a lot of friends.  But, as we grow older, it’s not so important the quantity of friends, but the quality of friends.

Do you find yourself hanging with the same few friends?  You know, it’s the same few friends who you may have over for a cook-out.  Or it’s the same few friends you may want to sit on your front porch with and talk about everything or talk about nothing.  It’s the same few friends you may horseback ride with or go see a movie with.  These are the quality friends, the ones you choose to be around.  You feel at peace with them and they with you.  Y’all may have huge differences, but you embrace each others’ differences and love each other anyway.  These are quality friends.  You are truly happy when you are around them.

Making a lot of money is great.  But it doesn’t make you happy.  When I see wealthy people who are truly happy, they are happy because they give so much to others.  But just having the money, keeping it in the bank doesn’t bring about happiness.  People are often fooled into thinking that if only they had a better paying job, they would be so much happier.  That’s not true.  We’ve all read the horror stories about people who’ve won the mega lotteries and how they went on to spend, spend and spend.  Every single one that I’ve ever seen interviewed talks about how people tried to take advantage of them, even their family.  Money or the love of money has torn apart many families.  Of course, we all know that you have to have money to live.  It is how our society is set up.  You must have money for shelter, food and clothing.  But the desire for more and more money, and making more and more money, will not make you happy.  It is what you decide to do with the money that makes you happy.

Having a nice, big home is wonderful.  So is having a fancy car.  But they can’t give you TRUE HAPPINESS.  Don’t get me wrong.  I am very happy living in my home.  But it isn’t the structure itself.  It is the peace and calm I feel at home that makes me happy.  I often refer to my home as my haven (barn too).  And it truly is that.  I feel so safe, at peace and happy here.  But it’s those feelings inside me that make my home feel that way. I’ve owned and driven some pretty fancy cars.  You know what I drive now?  A Ford Taurus.  And I love it.  And I don’t have all the high preventive maintenance costs like I had on all the imports.  :). If my car were the unhappiest place on the planet, when I get in it, it becomes the happiest.  Because it is what’s in me that makes my surroundings happy.  I have more joy, peace and calm in my Ford Taurus than I ever had in my Jaguar because I have found it within.

Family and Love are two more “things” that matter the most to you as you get older.

There’s nothing like family.  And I don’t necessarily mean just blood-family.  To me, family are those people and animals who love you unconditionally.  And I am so grateful for my family.  My family really matters to me.  Their well-being is one of the most important things to me and I pray for their good health daily, happiness and joy.

I guess you can put all the things above in a box called LOVE and a truly happy life is made whole.  Because love is what holds us all together.  Love is the grease on the wheel of life.

I’m not just talking about the love between two people or a romantic love.  Although that is very, very important.  But more than that, I am talking about love for mankind.  Love for your fellow man, woman and child.  I believe that God gave us love to keep us human.  For without love, where would we be?  God loved us so much that he gave us his only son (John 3:16) and I pray to have that kind of love for mankind.

Sending you quality blessings from Sterrett, Alabama,
Charity