I Can't Get No Satisfaction...

It's Monday morning and temperatures are chilly again. I've got my cup of hot cocoa -- complete with a chocolate dipped peppermint stick, thanks to my dear friend Kay :) She is always sticking things in her coffee and she gave me these as a Christmas gift -- now I'm hooked :)


I'm pondering a lot of things -- things I heard in yesterday's services at church, things that God has been working in my heart about. Just when I start to get comfortable, He nudges me out of my spiritual La-Z-Boy again.

I've been so busy moving and unpacking and organizing -- all good and necessary things. But I hear Him whispering to me to slooow down, take a breather, and do some reflecting.

Since we bought this house my mind has been in overdrive making lists (one of my favorite things to do :) -- one of them is a "Things to Buy for and Do To the House". Dave and I agreed that it's best to get an idea of what we'd like and then figure out a couple of things we have the resources to do right now. The rest will wait for later. There are 2 problems with this:

First, everytime I add something to the list, I am thinking, "I'd really like to do that right away." I'm doing a really terrible job of prioritizing.

Second, this list is never ending. Everyone has one of these lists. It could probably be more simply titled, "Things I Want." As far as I know, I've had this ongoing list since, well, since I was old enough to remember. I have never crossed everything off of this list. I never will.

I was thinking about that in the shower this morning and I thought to myself, "That's kind of depressing. I want to be finished with my list. I want to be content." Yet I know, and I think we all know, deep down inside that we will never stop wanting more things. Things will never make us content.

There's a reason for that. Because things were never meant to satisfy us. There's a line in a Sheryl Crow song where she says, "It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you've got." Well, that's almost right -- but not quite. It's only right if "what you've got" is the only thing that satisifies and that is Jesus Christ.

When I take my eyes off of Him and start dwelling on all the "stuff" I want, that is when I feel unfulfilled. I start worshipping things instead of worshipping the God who made all things.

Is there anything wrong with those other things I want? Not necessarily -- but if I let them become distractions, I am missing the point.

I need to refocus. I need to get my eyes back on Him. I need to take my "List of Wants" and write His name in permanent ink as the one and only item. Then, and only then, will my soul have the satisfaction that it craves.

Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the LORD ?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

Proverbs 30:8-9