May marked the end of the journey of education for many high school and college students. I started thinking about what fatherly advice I could pass along to those within the reach of this bulletin, so here is my best shot.
If you are not careful, you will spend your life pursuing goals that you think will make you endlessly happy but, in fact, will give you the most fleeting of pleasures. You will hunger after the next promotion and pay raise. But a few months later, it will be just another paycheck. You will lust after the bigger house and new car. But after six months, the house will be just a place to live and the car will be just a way to get around town.
At issue here is a phenomenon known as the hedonic treadmill. We pursue these goals, sure that they will bring us great happiness. But instead, we quickly become dissatisfied and start lusting after something else. Money buys a lot of happiness initially — but, after that, not so much. If you can help people out of poverty, you can vastly improve their happiness. But from there, it seems to take a lot of money to make people measurably happier.
By not focusing on money, you will not be missing out on much. All those possessions you want will give you so little pleasure. Instead, what will give you pleasure is striving after what you are passionate about, such as serving the Lord.
Kyle Campbell