GUARANTEED "HIGH"

Everyone likes to feel "high," and the higher the high the better.  This may be in the form of praise for something we've done, like volunteering at a hospital, or may be in the form of an accomplishment on the job, some astute analysis, resulting in a pay raise for us, or may be in the form of applause for a performance of ours on stage.

There are highs when we get married and raise a family, when all is going well.

But then, of course, there are also highs that are chemically-induced, artificial highs from alcohol and/or drugs, that last only as long as our bodies can tolerate them. 

But such earthly pleasures are not satisfying in the end if only because they are time bound, transient, and fleeting, in the same way that we ourselves are time bound, transient, and fleeting.  When everything is a moving target like this, how can we expect anything good to come of it?

Yet we persist.  We look around us and say, what is everyone else doing to where they seem so happy, so, well, high, and we're not?  Surely what they are doing will turn the tide, will do the trick, and we'll be really, really happy.  So, we buy new clothes by the closetful, buy new music by the cabinetful, buy new cars by the garageful, and become friends with new people by the roomful.

Still, alas, all of it is for naught, for there is only one guaranteed high, and that comes from what is permanent, abiding, and steadfast, and we all know in our heart of hearts in whom those qualities are found.