“Why don’t I have what they have?”
If you haven’t asked this question out loud, then your soul has certainly wondered it in a whisper.
Because we all long for something. We long for a peaceful nights sleep when it’s interrupted by small kids or big anxiety. We long to see warm colored fall leaves and to finish a hot cup of coffee in one sitting. We long for a job that fulfills us, for friends who get us, and love that won’t leave us. Longing is the human condition.
But what I really want is to not want anymore.
I don’t want anymore things. I want to stop cleaning so much stuff.
I don’t want to maximize my kids to their full potential. I want to enjoy their laughter.
I don’t want to worry about my diet and what it’s doing to my skin, heart, and hips. I want to enjoy my daily bread.
What I want is to not want anymore. I want that elusive heart posture the Bible calls contentment.
The problem with longing is we often look at a picture of someone else’s life, someone we think must be doing life right, to set the example of how to fill the hole that’s hurting us. The story we tell ourselves often goes like this, “One day when I have that big house…one day when I finally get my 4-5 workouts in per week…one day when I have the right clothes…one day when I get promoted…I’ll be happy then like everyone else.”
But it’s just a story. A short one that doesn’t paint the whole picture. Not even close.
So instead of asking, “Why don’t I have what they have?”, maybe the better question to ask ourselves today is, “Jesus, will you reveal to me all the good things you’ve already given me?”
Longing is the human condition. We get closer to contentment when we lean that longing on the right person, Jesus.
Seriously, try it today. Ask Jesus to reveal all that is already good in your life. And let the chipping away at that heavy rock of discontentment begin.
love,
vanessa