Family Happiness is the title of a short story by Leo Tolstoy. He was a Russian author who lived 1828-1910. His ideas were so popular that he gained a cult following and had a sort of commune for a while. Tolstoyism was a movement that became popular based on Tolstoy's beliefs that mirrored the sermon on the mount.
A quote from one of the characters in the short story Family Happiness:
"It was he who taught me to take quite a new view of our serfs and servants and maids. It is an absurd confession to make, but I had spent seventeen years among these people and yet knew less about them than about strangers whom I had never seen. It had never once occurred to me that these people had their affections and wishes and sorrows, just as I had. [upon coming to this awareness] Our garden and woods and fields, which I had known so long, suddenly became new and beautiful to me. He was right in saying that the only certain happiness in life is to live for others."
A hundred and twenty years ago, before electric cars, before cars, before the telephone, there was a man who taught about living lives of love. About living for others. Tolstoy, 1900. And then of course there was that Jesus guy. Love your neighbor, be the good Samaritan, turn the other cheek ca. 0030AD.
True happiness in life comes when we learn to love others. See the serfs, the servants, the maids, the person behind the counter, see the least of these and love them.
It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.
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I am, along with Sherri Swanson and Aaron Brown, leading a trip to the Holy Land January 23-February 2, 2023.
For more information, click the link below. And if you have any questions, please feel free to email me at jsbrink57@gmail.com
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