Pain, Craving, Addiction, all a good thing.
A bowl of oatmeal, a few eggs, this is what I chose to eat this morning before heading to the gym. A few cups of coffee, because, well, let's be honest, I am up earlier than I should be. Being tired is not a foreign concept to me, for I have either woken up early, or stayed up too late for much of my life. As many people do, I rely on what "science" tells me to do, to help remedy these problems.
As a child I wanted to be better than what I was, and eventually into adulthood, I wanted to just be better than. I wanted people to think I was smart, for "look what I told you." I wanted people to like me, but more importantly, look up to me, for I was presenting as a smart person, something I always feared I wasn't. I wanted you to see everything about me that I couldn't see. I was able to take something concrete-ish like nutritional information, and provide that to people with my own unique insight to relate, to comfort, ultimately to persuade you that I KNEW WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT.
The motive was flawed from the start, and I mean start from childhood. Nobody can save themselves by saving others, or as a deeper motive, by persuading others that I live everything I am showing you. Another, "wrong" as I took it, was the utter reliance on nutrition to be my savior, to have "science" be the ultimate go-to when I presented to clients what would work best for them in their quest to fulfill what they presented they wanted.
First off, I discovered that people don't really know what they want. Not in an ignorant way, because I actually believe people do know what they need, but they (me too) get persuaded into that feeling of something, being something else, something extra. Take weight-loss for example, instead of believing a loss of 20 pounds is the remedy, maybe what you really want is control over food. To be able to live without having to feel at the mercy of cookies at work or cake on the weekends, without having to order the most decadent desserts at the restaurant. To look into the face of the most tempting food and recognize the pleasure it promises, only to say, "nah, I'm good," without this overwhelming craving consume you. Yes, that is something weight-loss cannot provide, that is something no remedy or "diet plan" no matter how inclusive it is, can solve.
Secondly, I discovered and continue to discover that the human condition we all suffer from is meant to need things. We need food, we need love, we need to be safe. Without these needs being met, we cannot even begin to indulge in the "extras" in life. Many of us convince ourselves to live, "extra" yet, we are still trying to fulfill needs that haven't been met. For example, look at the person with a 6-figure bank account, do they feel fulfilled, or are they trying to find that fulfillment in purchasing things, having more of this, a better that, maybe then they can find love, or feel safe? Maybe not, maybe that person with money is content with their stuff, but still struggle with wanting excessive amounts of food, only to constantly diet, get liposuction (because they have the resources) or take other, more expensive supplements, to stay, "in the game?"
The truth is, that we are meant to need, we are meant to hunger, meant to thirst, meant to need more than just ourselves and our own devices. Science continues to fall flat on giving us a concrete answer. Instead of relying on the one, "perfect diet plan" or detox drink, or some routine or way we look at life, I suspect with my short time here, that all of these things are not meant to be fulfilled by what this life alone has to offer. The fact that we all die is a reminder that we are not "it," we are not enough, and no matter what we do, we do not live forever. We have souls that long for more, want to understand more than just the physical world between our toes. We know there is more, yet we look to science to answer what that is.
All of this comes down to needing, and for those of you in search of that, here it is. What if all the pain, all the cravings, all the hunger, searching, all the lust, drugs, money craving, attention, loneliness, wars, all of it was in pursuit of the only thing science cannot explain? What if all you were meant to do was to trust God, seek Him, look to Him to answer your woes? What if instead of looking at, "science" as we all like to depend on, with it's varying answers, bias corporate research, and attempt to persuade an agenda, we look to the only thing that is above all else? Not in some proverbial way, or existential, go-on-a-missions trip way, but simply ask God what it is He wants. We have nothing to lose in simply asking, we are all dying anyway.
If you aren't a believer in Christ, this remedy might seem foreign. However inside your heart, you know better. You know this world isn't it. You know that the remedies you seek here, and the attempts to fulfill fall flat. If you convince yourself, "this is it this time," look at how hard you are working at staying convinced, how inundated you have to be, how hard it is, when the answer is so much simpler.
If you are a believer in Christ, then look back to Him. Look back to what He has always promised, that He is it. He is the food, the craving answerer, the lust-fixer, not the band aid of diets, or a mirror image found more favorable, or the masturbation to satisfy sexual urges. He is IT and all the pains and ills of the world are really Him, the King of the universe, reminding us, his humble, broken children to look back to Him when we feel a void. I will state again, WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE ON THIS. There is no gamble here, we can go all-in and still walk away as broke as we came in if we decide to.
This one step, this one thing, this one way to process pain, instead of seeing it as the invasion in your otherwise content life, isn't a disruption at all, but the answer to everything. The concealment can be complacency, the needing, the longing, the craving, things we might benefit from, reminders of what is truly important.
God Bless.
37 On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! 38 Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’"
As a child I wanted to be better than what I was, and eventually into adulthood, I wanted to just be better than. I wanted people to think I was smart, for "look what I told you." I wanted people to like me, but more importantly, look up to me, for I was presenting as a smart person, something I always feared I wasn't. I wanted you to see everything about me that I couldn't see. I was able to take something concrete-ish like nutritional information, and provide that to people with my own unique insight to relate, to comfort, ultimately to persuade you that I KNEW WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT.
 |
| Presentation versus Freedom. |
First off, I discovered that people don't really know what they want. Not in an ignorant way, because I actually believe people do know what they need, but they (me too) get persuaded into that feeling of something, being something else, something extra. Take weight-loss for example, instead of believing a loss of 20 pounds is the remedy, maybe what you really want is control over food. To be able to live without having to feel at the mercy of cookies at work or cake on the weekends, without having to order the most decadent desserts at the restaurant. To look into the face of the most tempting food and recognize the pleasure it promises, only to say, "nah, I'm good," without this overwhelming craving consume you. Yes, that is something weight-loss cannot provide, that is something no remedy or "diet plan" no matter how inclusive it is, can solve.
 |
| It was supposed to be some of my best times. Obsession, constant hunger for more, never was I satisfied, I was looking for the wrong thing. Click HERE for more. |
The truth is, that we are meant to need, we are meant to hunger, meant to thirst, meant to need more than just ourselves and our own devices. Science continues to fall flat on giving us a concrete answer. Instead of relying on the one, "perfect diet plan" or detox drink, or some routine or way we look at life, I suspect with my short time here, that all of these things are not meant to be fulfilled by what this life alone has to offer. The fact that we all die is a reminder that we are not "it," we are not enough, and no matter what we do, we do not live forever. We have souls that long for more, want to understand more than just the physical world between our toes. We know there is more, yet we look to science to answer what that is.
 |
| Like a tiger on the prowl, we too are looking for something, meant to need, meant to depend... |
If you aren't a believer in Christ, this remedy might seem foreign. However inside your heart, you know better. You know this world isn't it. You know that the remedies you seek here, and the attempts to fulfill fall flat. If you convince yourself, "this is it this time," look at how hard you are working at staying convinced, how inundated you have to be, how hard it is, when the answer is so much simpler.
If you are a believer in Christ, then look back to Him. Look back to what He has always promised, that He is it. He is the food, the craving answerer, the lust-fixer, not the band aid of diets, or a mirror image found more favorable, or the masturbation to satisfy sexual urges. He is IT and all the pains and ills of the world are really Him, the King of the universe, reminding us, his humble, broken children to look back to Him when we feel a void. I will state again, WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE ON THIS. There is no gamble here, we can go all-in and still walk away as broke as we came in if we decide to.
This one step, this one thing, this one way to process pain, instead of seeing it as the invasion in your otherwise content life, isn't a disruption at all, but the answer to everything. The concealment can be complacency, the needing, the longing, the craving, things we might benefit from, reminders of what is truly important.
God Bless.
37 On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! 38 Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’"
- John 7:37-38
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