The Happiest City No More
Psalm 46:4,5
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
In 2018, WalletHub ranked Plano, TX as the happiest city in America. Their rankings were based on three factors: 1) emotional and physical well-being, which includes things like life-satisfaction index, adequate-sleep rate, and physical-health index; 2) income and employment; and 3) community and environment, which includes separation and divorce rate, ideal weather, and average leisure time spent per day.
For those categories in 2018, Plano ranked 6th, 7th, and 8th respectively.
In 2019, Plano dropped by one spot, to 2nd. 6th, 9th, and 16th in the categories listed above.
How the mighty have fallen! In 2020, Plano dropped 15 spots to 17th. Their emotional and physical well-being ranking dropped to 21st. Their income and employment ranking to 44th. And their community and environment ranking to 26th.
What happened? Many of the other cities that still rank in the top 10 have been in the top 10 for the past three years. Part of it is that COVID-19 cases and deaths per capita were added to the emotional and physical well-being ranking. But no specific COVID rankings were added to the other two categories, although it certainly has had an effect on those as well. Perhaps, there isn’t a simple answer to why Plano has dropped so far. It is the happiest city no more.
What we really learn is that measuring happiness based solely on earthly factors is a futile endeavor. How quickly things change. The cities aren’t just ranked in comparison with each other. They’re given an “objective” happiness score. Plano’s score was 72.30 in 2018. In 2019, 73.23, higher than the year before, even though it placed second. But in 2020, Plano’s score was 65.87.
The city in Psalm 46 is Jerusalem, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God’s presence in the city is a like a river whose streams make the city glad. With God within her, how could she fall?
But we know that Jerusalem fell. In 586 BC, the Babylonian army destroyed Jerusalem, including the temple of God. The people were taken away. God allowed this because they had turned their back on him.
The point is not to say Plano has become a godless city. It is to say, however, that happiness based on earthly factors is a very shaky happiness. When the people of Jerusalem sought their happiness in anything other than God, their happiness finally faded. You can be the happiest city one year and see that happiness crumble over the next few years.
If money makes you happy, what happens when you don’t have any or start to worry about it? If relationships make you happy, what happens when you’re stuck inside for a year and a half? If being out in nature makes you happy, what happens when you’re too scared to go outside?
The one constant happiness is our God. He is the source of all that is good in this world. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17). Despite the evil around us, our God is with us. This is no clearer than when we look at his Son Jesus Christ who came down out of heaven to be among us.
This Jesus came to our world to bring joy. We sing “Joy to the World” as we remember his coming. He came to save us from the evil around us and the evil within us. He comes to us now through his Word, through Baptism, in the Lord’s Supper. He promises to dwell within us, with his Father. “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (John 14:23). Jesus within us gives us confidence in what Jesus has done for us. God is within us. He will not let us fall.
Find your happiness in God. He does not change like shifting shadows, like everything around us does. Enjoy the blessings he gives you. Know that even greater blessings await you in heaven.