All hunger is not the same.
Today I woke up feeling genuinely hungry, the hungriest I remember feeling in recent history. At the same time, I felt so nauseous that I was sure anything entering my body would be immediately expelled. Throughout the day my hunger grew and faded. At times I became engrossed in whatever I was doing and I felt no hunger at all. Other times I felt a dull ache. A few times when circumstance forced me to see and smell food, the hunger was almost overpowering.
I wasn't truly in need of food any more when I saw and smelled it than when my mind was on something else? I think most of our "hunger" is a perception. We see food and think we need it. I feel no hungrier now as I type this than I did after missing my first breakfast.
Today I was reading from "Simplicity: Essays" by Joshua Fields Milburn and Ryan Nicodemus. They explain how we think we need something because we see others have it. We don't actually need any of it, but the feeling that we do can be overpowering. It got me thinking about the things I covet. They are many.
I actually have everything I need. I am well stocked. I have an adequate place to live with all the necessary furnishings, a car that works. I have a guitar that I enjoy playing, books I enjoy reading. More than durable goods, I have a supportive family, great friends, and opportunities to do things I love. I am truly blessed. I need nothing.
So why I am I hungry for more things? Why do I wish I made more more? Why am I not content with my abundance? My desire for things is just as much a perception as my desire for food. That is not to say I don't need things. We all need certain things. We need shelter, we need companionship. We need food. But we often grossly exaggerate how much we need these things.
But there are things we need. There is a deeper hunger that needs to be satisfied. It has nothing to do with food or cars or TVs or clothes. That is what I am trying to figure out how to fill. When I do, I will truly understand how man can live, not on bread alone, but every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Today I woke up feeling genuinely hungry, the hungriest I remember feeling in recent history. At the same time, I felt so nauseous that I was sure anything entering my body would be immediately expelled. Throughout the day my hunger grew and faded. At times I became engrossed in whatever I was doing and I felt no hunger at all. Other times I felt a dull ache. A few times when circumstance forced me to see and smell food, the hunger was almost overpowering.
I wasn't truly in need of food any more when I saw and smelled it than when my mind was on something else? I think most of our "hunger" is a perception. We see food and think we need it. I feel no hungrier now as I type this than I did after missing my first breakfast.
Today I was reading from "Simplicity: Essays" by Joshua Fields Milburn and Ryan Nicodemus. They explain how we think we need something because we see others have it. We don't actually need any of it, but the feeling that we do can be overpowering. It got me thinking about the things I covet. They are many.
I actually have everything I need. I am well stocked. I have an adequate place to live with all the necessary furnishings, a car that works. I have a guitar that I enjoy playing, books I enjoy reading. More than durable goods, I have a supportive family, great friends, and opportunities to do things I love. I am truly blessed. I need nothing.
So why I am I hungry for more things? Why do I wish I made more more? Why am I not content with my abundance? My desire for things is just as much a perception as my desire for food. That is not to say I don't need things. We all need certain things. We need shelter, we need companionship. We need food. But we often grossly exaggerate how much we need these things.
But there are things we need. There is a deeper hunger that needs to be satisfied. It has nothing to do with food or cars or TVs or clothes. That is what I am trying to figure out how to fill. When I do, I will truly understand how man can live, not on bread alone, but every word that comes from the mouth of God.
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