Challenges of Finding Satisfaction

I've been doing a lot of thinking the last few days on what it means to be satisfied with life. It is amazing how difficult it can be to try to find true satisfaction. I have so many blessings, and yet I often find myself seeking for something to "bring that sensation of pleasure and joy" into my life.
Sometimes it is food. I love food. And usually it is chocolate or sweets or some favorite food that I want to devour and eat as much as possible. This, of course, is silly because it is so temporary, and I end up just being upset that I stuffed myself. Consequently, I go and exercise extra hard to burn off what I just ate. Definitely silly.

Sometimes it is entertainment, especially movies. I love movies, and there is nothing wrong with that, but often I seek those things are a way to distract me from those things in life that get me down (relational struggles, stress, etc.). I get lost in the story for the 1.5 or 2 hours (or more if it is the Lord of The Rings Special Extended Edition which I just finished watching :-) ), but then the reality of life returns.

Sometimes it is relationships. I love my wife and children dearly. I have some friends. But my wife and I can argue or just frustrate each other. Children are fun, but can be trying. Friends are great, but they are often not available or can be hard to connect with. Ultimately, though often satisfying, they can also leave me wanting more.

These things seem to satisfy, but they never last. They are so temporary, so transient. You have to keep going back again, and again, and again. It has been an ongoing cycle.

Then the Lord brought me to Jeremiah 2:13 today, where He says: For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

That was it! The problem is that, even though I mediate on Him and talk with Him, I was really looking to these other things for satisfaction and not Him. I never drank from Him, the fountain of living waters! I turned to the cisterns of movies and food and entertainment for satisfaction, when all I needed was Him.

All it needed was a simple shift in perspective. Of course He is the fountain of living water. Blaise Pascal himself said that there was a God-shaped hold in everyone's heart. Yet I was trying to put the square peg of earthly joys into the "round hole" only God could fill in my heart.

This allows me to enjoy the relationships and things of life without getting "bummed" by what is lacking in them. So my relationships aren't perfect. So what. They cannot ultimately satisfy anyway. Only He can. So I can't eat all the tastie goodies I want without getting fat. Just enjoy some. They cannot fill that emptiness anyway. And so on. It applies to everything.

The challenge now is to keep to that perspective and not fall back. Falling back is easy, but by His grace I will triumph! He has granted me eternal life through His Son. He has provided me His Spirit. He has promised me heaven no matter what happens. He is there, ever ready to listen and to talk with me. How can I not find Him satisfying? All I need do it let go of the empty cisterns that cannot hold water and grab onto Him!

Easier said then done? Perhaps. Let's see how it goes ;-).