How To Stay Hungry

Is it just me or does it seem nearly impossible to walk out of Costco without leaving a down payment on a small vacation?

I was standing in line at Costco recently clutching a mile long receipt, pushing my packed cart, awaiting final approval to exit the store, when something caused me to pause. In front of me were no less than 20 other carts, many filled to the brim with food, clothing and various sundries. I looked from person to cart, then back to person, and I couldn’t get over how much stuff we were all carrying out into the world to consume.

While not true for everyone, many of us live with enough resources to meet our own daily needs while satisfying our own bellies and pursuing our own daily pleasures. Even if we don’t have enough resources, we sacrifice something in order to look like we do. Our donation piles grow with each change of season; out with the old, in with the new. We spend an immeasurable amount of resources; including our time, money, and energy on consuming and adding to what we already possess. Admittedly, I am no different.

This question haunted me that day leaving Costco:

Could it be that one of the main reasons we don’t hunger after something greater is because we are so easily stuffed full with lesser things?

If we fill up on all we can see, then why would we hunger and thirst after what we can’t?

The reason we might consider our satisfaction being met in something other than this world provides, is because there is nothing in the world that actually satisfies. We try daily and come to the same conclusion eventually. As good as our posessions or relationships begin, they all disappoint or become more of a burden than a blessing at some point.

After falling in love with French culture on two recent trips to France, and consuming as many croissants as possible last year, I am now reading French Women Don’t Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure by Mireille Guiliano. In it, Guiliano recommends to keep a diary of our eating habits and then go back and analyze it by “determining what seems excessive.”

She prompts, “You might begin by asking, ‘What could I live without - or at least with less of?’” Then she encourages the reader to take note of things we consume regularly while specifying which give real pleasure, and which we consume to a “pointless excess”.

Ladurée - Paris, France

We are also aware of this practice with Marie Kondo. Take everything out of a closet or drawer and one-by-one, then analyze which items bring you the most joy. If we stand back and look at our lives holistically, our physical space is most assuredly connected with our head space and our heart space, isn’t it? The clutter in our closets can become as heavy a burden as the clutter in our hearts. Therefore, I am convinced, with greater accumulation, we risk inoculating our need for God.

How can we hunger after the One who promises to satisfy, if we are satiated with everything that doesn’t?

As I mentioned in last week’s post, over the season of Lent my desire is to focus on several areas of spiritual discipline. Traditionally, Lent is a time of fasting. Fasting is not limited to a practice for the religious elite or a wellness trend to lose weight, but a discipline and practice of evaluating areas in your life that need to decrease so that God can increase.

Maybe it’s a time to fast from certain social media accounts, because the images and words are captivating your heart more than you want them to right now.

Maybe it’s a time to fast from speaking first, and focus instead on listening more to honor others more than yourself.

Maybe it’s time to fast from a certain food that seems to represent a lack of self control in your life, and you need to remind yourself food is not a master of you.

Maybe it’s a time to fast from grumbling and replace those default emotions with words of grace and gratitude.

Please know, lent is not simply ‘New Years Resolutions 2.0’. Fasting, in this context, is a way to intentionally evaluate what hold certain things have over us and to put them back in their proper place. We cannot serve two masters. Spiritual fasting is a letting go of something in order to fill back up with more of God. The process may seem similar, but the end is different.

“No one can serve two masters, for either he wil hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Matthew 6:24 ESV

Fill in the blank for you.

“I cannot serve God and ________________.”

God, I pray that you would use the upcoming weeks to reveal to me where I am filling up with the lesser things of this world, and in their place fill me up with more of you, your truth, your Spirit, and your love. Help me to believe it’s worth it. Amen.