We are restless in our pursuit of more.
No matter how great the achievement, it is not long before our contentedness wanes. We begin to accept what was once thought to be captivating and fulfilling to be ordinary and even mundane. This mental shift serves as catalyst driving us to seek out a further horizon. It is as if we are compelled to perpetuate an endless pursuit of more or next.
This ambition serves a positive role in many aspects of our lives. It drives our industriousness and ensures we don’t fall into a life of sloth. However this mode of operating can sometimes permeate the whole of our lives and steal our joy. Instead of seeking and fulfilling intrinsic motivations, we become obsessed with status and treasure, foregoing our original design. Yet none of these trivial pursuits fulfill. David understood this well saying:
“Why is everyone hungry for more? “More, more,” they say.
”More, more.”
I have God’s more-than-enough,
More joy in one ordinary day
Than they get in all their shopping sprees.
At day’s end I’m ready for sound sleep,
For you, God, have put my life back together.”
The wisdom David is seeking to impart is a lesson that comes with life experience: more is not necessarily better. And more in itself doesn’t lead to fulfillment. For human beings are remarkably adaptive and re-baseline themselves at an incredible rate. A boost in status results in a temporary boost in happiness, but before long we have recalibrated and return to our baseline. The hit of dopamine we received from the accomplishment is fleeting. It’s this same temporal nature that allows us to overcome and let go of failures and disappointments.
How then are we to achieve fulfillment and lasting peace? The answer is through mindset and relationship. We must properly prioritize our lives by placing our beliefs and those we love first. For it is in a life lived according to principle that we achieve enduring fulfillment, not in our accomplishments or titles. Eternal must come before temporary. Jesus summed this up well:
“What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?”
This isn’t to say that we ought to forego all efforts and pursuits. We were designed to do things, and there are many things that need doing. We just need to maintain our perspective when doing so and keep focused on that which truly matters: loving God and loving people. If we can keep those objectives at the front of our minds, regardless of the pursuit we are in the midst of, we can move closer to the caliber of person we were designed to be and begin to experience the true fulfillment and peace we are so desperate for.