Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. 

Proverbs 3:5-6, NASB

We sometimes focus so much on the things that are wrong in this world and our personal lives, that we often forget to enjoy life.

It's easy to do, isn't it? We listen to the news and hear what is wrong with everything and everybody. We look to our own lives and can see things that we really wish were different. Sometimes we struggle with poor health and grief. Sometimes we wrestle with those whose views on how things ought to be done are different than ours. We often get dissatisfied with our own personal lot in life, and sometimes that leads to anger or confusion or depression.

Yet, when we honestly appraise our lives, what do we really have to be so discontent about? We live during a wonderful era in which medical and technological advances have never been higher. We have a level of comfort that has rarely been seen throughout all of history. We have access to good education and enjoyable physical pursuits. Add that to the variety of foods that would have made kings jealous in times gone by. Why, we can even get fresh strawberries in the dead of winter, and fresh seafood a thousand miles away from the nearest ocean!

If we don't like our present job, we can typically find one we like more. If we don't like our present location, we can find opportunities to move. Most college students who are not satisfied with their current environment can often check out of one university in five minutes and move on to another one more to their liking even if it's on the other side of the country.

So why is it, with all of these choices and modern-day conveniences, that so many people are unhappy? I think it's because people have been focusing on the wrong things!

The fact is that God really is God and He really does love us. He has given us the perfect environment in which to serve Him, and He gives us all the help that we could possibly ask for. And when we make mistakes, He provides a way to correct those mistakes. He has given us the perfect set of understandable instructions in the Bible, and He has given us an open invitation to talk to Him in prayer anytime we feel the need to do so. He has given us the opportunity to surround ourselves with pleasant people, and if we have failed to take advantage of those opportunities, He gives us another chance to make things right.

He loves us so much that He put us here in the first place. He watches over our lives with a genuine concern that no parent could match. And if that were not enough, He gives us the option of spending an eternity with Him. And though all have sinned and fall short of this great offer, He allowed His only begotten Son to die for those very sins. And as for those who are given over to that anger and confusion and depression we mentioned earlier? He gives us a second chance to come out of those negative lifestyles and enjoy a peace and happiness that few people have known.

So, what's the catch? And, of course, there is one - and a very big one at that. We have to learn to trust Him and His ways instead of leaning on our own understanding. Furthermore, we have to acknowledge Him in all of our ways and admit that our way - those ways that led to anger and confusion and depression - were not the best way after all. If we can do that, He will make our paths straight. But what does that mean? It means that instead of walking down those crooked paths that we were so sure were shortcuts to happiness, that we now turn to His straight and righteous path that leads to heaven.

His path will appear to be too hard to some - that's okay, for quality results were never intended for those who refuse to put in the quality efforts! However, for those who are willing to admit that they were not smarter than God after all, for those who are willing to trust in He and Jesus with all of their heart, for these people there will be a life that is unimaginably good. And then, there will be heaven!

This, then, is the key to a good life! The only question that remains is this: Are we wise enough to see it?