Writings of Callum

Destination happiness – the mindset of life being enjoyable once reaching a specific goal – is a thief of joy and life satisfaction. Comparison is a significant cause of this mindset as by defining the value of your life by the situations of others, you perceive reality with a deficit-focus. In other words, your life doesn’t feel good enough because you don’t have what others have.

With eyes on the future,

The world grows gray as expectations are left unsatisfied.

Nothing is ever good enough!

Time is wasted as dull days move by –

Never happy,

Always disappointed.

When we think too much about the future, we place in it our hope to fulfil the areas that are currently lacking within our lives. This causes life to grow grey as tomorrow doesn’t fade the disillusionment we experience. We often choose to focus on moving forward in a bid to accelerate life so this dull feeling fades, but things will never change. Stages of life will change in time, but when the novelty of change fades, and when change becomes routine, the world will again grow gray. When you can’t appreciate the value of life in the mundane everyday, life will be ever gray.

Eyes on the present, and deficit slowly falls away as gratitude takes its place.

Each moment is intricately woven with purpose

As each tick reminds us of life;  

A gift yearning to be unwrapped.

Be led by curiosity,

Act with passion,

And enjoy the moment

For no two seconds will ever be the same.

Learning to enjoy the present is something that I am still trying to master. Through making the choice to love and enjoy life, you create an array of fond memories that will be cherished internally for a lifetime. As all things are, gratitude is a grace only possible through God. His gift of gratitude provides life with its exuberant colours that soak into every experience.

God creates our hearts with passions, and we need to follow these. I love to write, for example. By following this passion I’m able to articulate life and poetically communicate my experiences in an act that glorifies the creation of God. Whatever you love, make the time to do that and enjoy it!

Life itself is like a shooting star – it is beautiful to witness and it goes by in an instant, but if you fail to pay attention to it, you miss it entirely. Within seconds, life just happens! I believe that these daily moments are of major importance as a full life is comprised not of only major moments, but an accumulation of minor moments too! If you aren’t in a position to be receptive of these moments, you miss out on life.

In awe we see the beauty of life and its unimaginable colours,

Colours that span past the senses,

Moving the heart to ecstasy,

Leading the soul to joy.

Our smiles illuminate the land amidst the darkness of tribulation.

I’m reminded of the 21 Christian martyrs who were tragically killed by terrorists in 2015. Before dying, they all professed Jesus as their Lord. Faced with certain death unless they denounced the name of Christ, they chose to praise God in exchange for their lives. It is in God that we find our joy and gratitude. If we can allow God to grant us His gift of joy amidst the areas of our lives where we see deficit, we will always be able to appreciate life irrespective of the circumstances. Sometimes I doubt the existence of such joy, but if people can die while proclaiming the Lord Jesus Christ with joy, this joy is a reality for each and every person.