1 May 2009

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness


The phrase mentioned above is a most familiar one, coming of course from the United States Declaration of Independence. Signed in 1776 on the same day that Chris and I were married (although some 216 years earlier) the second section of the Declaration reads as follows:

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

In recent weeks I have been reflecting a good deal on my own personal Christian walk, and on how I measure up - chiefly with my own standards, my own good intentions. I get frustrated with failures, get depressed when things don't work out the way they should. Most of the time the reasons things don't work out aren't my fault (as my colleagues and family tell me constantly), however that doesn't make me feel any better. In fact, when it is clearly something that I have done, it feels much, much worse.
It's time for a change, and by that I mean a change of emphasis. I have identified three things that I need to aim for in the next few weeks. Surprisingly, these can be categorised under three simple headings. Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
More later.

1 comment:

Andrew Bale said...

Colin - it goes without saying that we are with you in your struggle! Looking forward to lunch :-) Grace and peace, A