Can I ask you an intrusive question? When have you felt or been happiest, most satisfied in life?
Personally, it’s when I’ve felt most connected to, at one with:
- Creation – swimming in the sea at sunrise.
- Others – laughing over a meal with friends.
- Myself – at ease in my own skin, with my strengths and weaknesses.
- God – loved and cared for by my creator.
When have you felt or been happiest in life?
Now let’s ask the question the other way around: when have you felt or been unhappiest, least satisfied in life?
Personally, it’s when I’ve felt disconnected, separated from:
- Creation – too busy to enjoy its beauty.
- Others – living alone during lockdowns, unable to sit and eat with others.
- Myself – not feeling at home in my male body.
- God – feeling rejected by him, doubting his existence.
When have you felt or been, unhappiest in life?
I have a hypothesis to share, to test with you. It’s one rooted in the Christian tradition, evidenced in the world around us and in the Bible.
It’s this: you were created to be connected to, at one with, creation, others, yourself and God. As a result, your happiness, deep satisfaction with life, depends on those connections being in place. When they are, you will enjoy life to the full. When they are not, you will experience the pain of what I call The Intimacy Deficit.
To try and prove this point I’ve written a whole book, published by IVP in the UK today. In it I both make the biblical case for each of these vital connections and show you how to enjoy them day by day. You can get hold of your copy here and until 19 June you will receive 20% off when you use the code INTIMACY20 via the IVP website.
Your happiness, satisfaction in life, might depend on it.
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To read an interview on the book between Rev Dr Ian Paul and Ed, click here.
Ed Shaw is Co-Chair of CEEC and Pastor of Emmanuel City Centre Church, Bristol, UK and Ministry Director at Living Out. He has written widely, authoring numerous blogs and articles as well as the bestselling books, The Plausibility Problem and Purposeful Sexuality and forthcoming The Intimacy Deficit. Ed loves family and friends, church and city, gin and tonic, music and books.
This blog first appeared on the Living Out website.
