“HAPPY NEW YEAR!” That’s a greeting that I dare say all of us have used at some point or another. But what exactly do we mean when we say it? There is a Chinese proverb that states, “If you wish to be happy for one hour, get intoxicated. If you wish to be happy for three days, get married. If you wish to be happy for eight days, kill your pig and eat it. If you wish to be happy forever, learn to fish.”

Of course we all know that happiness is a choice, like so much in life. As we face a New Year, we decide what kind of attitude we take along with us. We can choose to feel good or bad. We can either permit difficulties to master us, or we can ride right on over them. Personally, I have always believed that there are three essentials to true and lasting happiness: (1) Something to do (purpose); (2) someone to love (relationship); (3) something to hope for (the future).

Think about these for a moment. They are absolutely essential for a feeling of well-being. All three of them are linked inextricably to the Lord God. He alone can provide us with the highest sense of purpose known to man—to serve Him and others—to lose our life for the sake of others.

We all need someone to love. We were created for relationship. To embrace the notion that God loves us and wants us to be intimately acquainted with Him will serve as the centerpoint of happiness.

And when we contemplate hope, what more needs to be said? The future belongs to those who belong to God. Sad are those who are devoid of hope. They need not be. The God of hope waits to fill their lives with his sure promises.

Many years ago, a little boy was given a priceless possession—his deceased grandfather’s gold pocket watch. How he treasured it! But one day, while playing at his father’s ice plant, he lost the watch amid all the ice and sawdust. He searched and scratched, becoming frantic, but no watch. Then he suddenly realized what to do. He stopped scurrying around and became very still. In the silence he heard the watch ticking.

God has given each of us a priceless gift of joy in Jesus. How easy it is to lose our joy in the scurrying around of life. Yet it is always there to find, if we will but pause and listen to the beautiful presence of Jesus.

THE STORY IS TOLD OF A PERSIAN KING who loved his people very much. To know and understand them better, he would occasionally mingle with his subjects in various disguises. One day he went as a poor man to the public baths and in a tiny cellar sat beside the fireman who tended the furnace. When it was mealtime the king shared his food and talked to his lonely subject as a friend.

Again and again he visited and the man grew to love him. One day the king told the fireman who he was. He expected the man to ask him for a gift of some sort, but to his amazement that did not happen. Instead, the man sat gazing at his ruler with love and wonder and at last he said, “You left your palace and your glory to sit with me in this dark place, to eat of my coarse food, to care whether my heart is glad or sad. On others you may bestow presents, but to me you have given yourself, and it only remains for me to pray that you never withdraw the gift of your friendship.”

This beautiful story reminds us that Christ, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, left the glories of heaven in order to share himself with us. That gift of his love and friendship will never be withdrawn from us. He chose to be our friend forever. Doesn't that make your heart leap with joy? To be a friend of God! What an awesome thought. The Lord of Glory wants to know us personally--to sit with us in our dark and light moments and love us right where we are. No wonder we sing, "Joy to the world, the LORD has come."

HAVE YOU EVER WATCHED THE TV PROGRAM, “UNDERCOVER BOSS?” If not, let me fill you in. It’s all about senior executives of a company working undercover in their own firm to investigate how the company really works and identify how it can be improved, as well as rewarding the hard working staff.

In one episode, a CEO of a nationally recognized firm, took a position as a janitor in one of his company’s subsidiaries. He was videotaped cleaning toilets as part of his duties.As I watched, I couldn’t help but think of a Christmas passage that I have preached on in the past: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich (2Corinthians 8:9). Of course the analogy is weak at several points, but, like this CEO, the Lord of glory was willing to humble himself and take upon himself the form of a man. He left the beauty and joy of heaven to live for a while on this pain-infested planet, to fulfill a mission of redemption.

Back to Undercover Boss. At the end of their week of undercover, the executives return to their true identity and request the employees they worked with individually to corporate headquarters. The bosses reveal their identity, and reward hard-working employees through campaign, promotion, or financial rewards, while other employees are given training or better working conditions.
Can you see where I’m going? Jesus rewards those who by faith trust in His atoning work for them on the cross—not because they deserve it or worked hard. It’s because of His great love for us. And the rewards are out of this world—heaven, eternal life, peace, joy, and an abiding sense of His presence.

He was rich. He became poor---disrobed himself of His majesty—born in a stable, into a poor home and poor community. All the days of His earthly life He was poor. He couldn’t even afford a tomb to be buried in. And He did it all to make us spiritually rich! He knew how destitute we are without Him.

There lived in a little village a doctor noted for his kindness and love. After his death they found written across many of his accounts the notation: “Forgiven—too poor to pay.” The widow objected and sued the people for payment. But the judge asked, “Is this your husband’s signature?” “Yes,” she replied. “Then,” said the judge, “there isn’t a court in the land who can order a collection of the accounts where the doctor has written ‘Forgiven.’” Jesus offers to forgive and receipt our debt in full if we will but admit that we are too poor to pay. He wants to give us the greatest GIFT of all time, if we, like He, shall humble ourselves and receive His offer of love.

I RECENTLY WENT DUCK HUNTING. Oh, not it the usual sense of that term—not with a gun, but with a camera. My wife and I were staying at the Peabody Hotel in Orlando for a conference when we discovered a most unusual custom. Each morning at exactly 11:00 AM, the hotel's atrium lobby is the scene of a remarkable ritual. In a special elevator, 5 North American mallard ducks, four hens and one drake, comprising The Peabody Ducks, descend from their $100,000 penthouse Royal Duck Palace.

When the elevator doors open, The Peabody Ducks, accompanied by their crimson-and-gold- braid-jacketed Duck Master, take up their positions on a plush red carpet and begin the March of The Peabody Orlando Ducks to the strident tones of John Philip Sousa's King Cotton March.

They call it a march, but actually it is more like a race to a fountain in the atrium lobby because that’s where some food has been laid out in advance for them on the edge of the fountain.

So, there I was with camera in hand, ready to see them march, but they were at the fountain in a flash. I think they term it a march because one is played over the loud speaker system, but believe me, it is no march! It was more like a 100 foot speed-waddle!

After they eat, the ducks spend a few hours in the water, just swimming around and quacking to their hearts content.

At exactly 5:00 PM, the procession is reversed. The Peabody Orlando Ducks waddle back to their special elevator, then to their Royal Duck Palace for dinner and a quiet evening together. It’s really a hoot because as soon as the march is played, that is their cue and off they go.

Don’t believe me? Think I am making this up? Check it out for yourself. Go to the Peabody site on the net and enjoy. There is even a video of this amazing feat. It’s very entertaining, if not down right goofy!

How did all this start? Good question. There is a legend that says that back in the 1930’s, two guys returned from a duck hunting foray, somewhat inebriated and got an idea to place their live duck decoys in the Memphis Peabody Hotel lobby fountain (one of them supposedly was the general manager of the hotel) and just let them cavort for a while. The whole thing apparently caught on and became a practice that is kept alive to this day in Peabody’s three locations--Memphis, Little Rock, and Orlando.

Usually I have a moral to my stories, but this time I don’t. However, I can say with a good deal of certainty that Peabody Hotels are definitely for the birds.