Q&A: Can a single person be truly happy?

by | Jul 24, 2024

Q&A: Can a single person be truly happy?
 
 

 

 

Full Transcript

Some people wonder, in today’s day and age, can I be truly happy as a single person?

We live in a culture where happiness is kind of paired with finding the right person, finding your soulmate. As one person told me, we live in a culture of couples. And so if you’re single, you might be wondering like, can I find that fulfillment? Can I find that happiness? And let me just first say, happiness is probably the wrong word to be using. I do think fulfillment is a better way to think of this, because even if you’re married, that doesn’t mean you’re gonna find happiness. Happiness is fleeting. Life can be very difficult. But when we think of fulfillment, we think, okay, what does it mean to be human? And what does it mean to thrive? And really, we were created with two basic needs. One of them is for connection, for intimacy. And yes, marriage can provide an avenue for that to happen, but there are so many other ways to foster intimacy through community, particularly within the family of God. Within the church, we’re meant to be forming those kinds of intimate bonds as brother and sister in Christ. And so you need that to be fulfilled. And the second thing we were really created to do is to make a difference in the world: to know that we have a purpose and are making an impact. And so I really believe whether you’re single or married or divorced or widowed, or whatever your marital status might be, you look for fulfillment through those intimate connections in your community and really finding the purpose that God has given you in terms of making a difference in this world.