Article November 12, 1960 Issue

What Makes People Happy?

[Of Special Interest to Children]

MADORA HOLT

When Karen was a little girl, she lived in a big city. On Sunday she went to a Christian Science Sunday School, and there she learned of God and of His love for all His children. She learned too that God gives His children nothing but good and that He keeps them always happy and well. She knew the First Commandment by heart (Ex. 20:3), "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." And she knew that this means that we have to put God first in everything we do.

She could also recite almost all of the second commandment and had begun to learn the Beatitudes—those beautiful verses from Christ Jesus' Sermon on the Mount that beging with the word "blessed" (see Matt. 5:3—11). Her Sunday School teacher explained to Karen that "blessed" is another word for "happy" and that we can always be happy if we are good and obedient and loving and meek.

Karen often went to visit her grandparents, who lived in a nearby city. Once when she was visiting them, she found a little green plastic basket on a kitchen shelf. It was empty; so she took it to her grandfather and said, "I'd like to take this home to my mother."

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