Happiness Comes in Pieces

On Mark’s 25th birthday in 2002, I gave him a book entitled “The Next 500 Stories” by Frank Mihalic, SVD, and I wrote a note on its first page that said, “Age is not a date in time but a state of mind. Our duty here on earth is not to add years to our lives but to add life to our years. I love you honey. Happy birthday.”

For many years, this motivational book has guided him and me on how to make the right decisions and choose the right roads. Sometimes we read our favorite stories all over again and talk about what we have learned from them.

Now, I want to share the #384 story/poem that helps us understand the partiality of happiness and why we don't ask God to give us more of who we are and what we have (though I don’t mind having more) as long as no one in our family gets sick or get into trouble with the law or something. Moreover, it gives us the rationale on why we should have peace of mind first before anything else.

Happiness Comes in Pieces
Happiness is like a crystal,
Fair and exquisite and clear,
Broken in a million pieces,
Shattered, scattered, far and near.

Now and then along life’s pathway,
Lo! Some shining fragments fall;
But there are so many pieces,
No one ever finds them all.

You may find a bit of beauty,
Or an honest share of wealth,
While another just beside you,
Gathers honor, love or health.

Vain to choose or grasp unduly,
Broken is the perfect ball;
And there are so many pieces,
No one ever finds them all.

Yet the wise, as on they journey,
Treasure every fragment clear,
Fit them as they come together,
Imagining the shattered sphere.

Learning to be thankful,
Though their share of it is small,
For it has so many pieces,
No one ever finds them all.

-Priscilla Leonard