I have a confession to make.  There is a part of me that desperately wants
to believe that shopping will make me happy.  Well, not the shopping, per se. 
The fruits of shopping.  The "stuff."

That part of me has been fascinated by a manuscript of my friend Kevin J.
Wright's new book Living Your Life With Purpose and Passion.

I read one chapter and realized I had to tell you all about it.

First of all, I'm guessing that most of you can relate to the shopping
problem.  Maybe, for you, it's not shopping.  Maybe it's cars, or electronic
gadgets.  Maybe it's food or sex.  Maybe it's power or popularity.  Maybe it's the
nicest house in the nicest neighborhood.  But there's something you think is
going to make you happy.  And yet, when you get a gadget or a promotion or a
new house, you find something is still missing.  You're happy for a while.  But
then you feel sort of empty. The clothes sit in your closet.  The car sits in the
garage.  The money sits in the bank.  And you're still – well, you're still you.

You need more, right?  Another fix.  Another hit of the good stuff.  You're
not happy because you just don't have enough yet. Another car.  Another million. 
Another self-improvement seminar.  As Rich Mullins sang, "Everybody I know
says they need just one thing, but what they really mean is they need just thing
more."

Somewhere deep down, we know that it's God who fills that void, not
those other things.  But we get scared.  What if I have to give the other things
up?  I like them so much.  If I invite God deeper into my heart, does that mean I
have to drive an ugly car and sit on ugly furniture?  "Cause I still think the nice
"stuff" make me happy.

Fortunately, my buddy Kevin Wright addresses this nicely in the first
chapter of his book.  He says that there are different levels of happiness.  Four of
them. 

The first level of happiness is sensory.  This is where all of the "stuff"
comes in.  Material possessions, food, massage – they all do make us happy. 
But not for long.  Once the experience is over, the happiness fades.  (Even if the
"experience" is the process of buying another material possession.)
 Level one happiness isn't a bad thing, of course.  We need food.  We
appreciate beauty, even if it's the beauty of a man-made material possession. 
But if we rely on level one to keep us happy, it's not going to work.  We'll just float
from experience to experience, hoping one will give us the long-term happiness
we crave.

The second level is achievement simply for the sake of achievement.  It
happens when the outside world pays attention to us   Status, fame, popularity. 
Again, not entirely bad.  God gave us talents and abilities.  Exercising them feels
good.  A lot of the work of the world is done by people who are chasing
recognition.  But ask any famous person if their fame gives them lasting
happiness.  They know better than any of us that attention for its own sake is
empty.  Some keep working for another "fix" – bigger and bigger fame.  Others
embrace the truth, and throw themselves into level three activities.

Level three is the happiness we find when we give of ourselves to make
the world better.  This is the love I'm always telling you about, the love Gaudium
et Spes referred to in saying "Man is the only creature created for his own sake,
and finds himself only in a sincere gift of himself."  We find a deep abiding
satisfaction in seeing the image and likeness of God in another human person,
and in putting our comforts and desires aside for the sake of that person.

And yet, there is happiness even deeper than level three.  Level four
happiness  springs from our experience of God.  Augustine said "Our hearts were
made for Thee, O Lord, and will not rest until they rest in Thee."  There are times,
sitting in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, when I know He's there.  I feel
His presence and His love.  And I know I was made for that.

Wright points out that the higher levels of happiness actually free us to
enjoy the lover levels more.   When I'm finding my fulfillment in loving God and
my neighbor, nice clothes are free to be what they are – nice clothes.  Not my
identity, not the path to my happiness.  Just pretty pieces of material that I can
enjoy wearing – or hang in my closet and forget about.

Our possessions don't define us.  Our reputations don't define us.  Our
charitable work doesn't even define us.  We are defined simply by our identity as
children of God, made in His image and likeness, and loved deeply by Him.

If you want to enjoy everything else, put Him first.