Foreward....#EmptyPromises

I hope some of you are reading "Empty Promises" with me this summer.  If you missed my previous post, it's the new book by my pastor Pete Wilson.  Not too late to pick up a copy and join in!

Although I said I would start with Chapter One this week.... I'm changing my mind and starting with the Foreward, which was written by Rick Warren.  There are too many good little "nuggets' not to give this it's own post here.

"Mother Teresa once observed that in India people are starving physically, but in America people are starving spiritually and emotionally.
 God wired each of us with a spiritual hunger that can only be satisfied by him.  We use phrases like "There's got to be more to life than this," or "I'm bored.... restless.... empty... unfulfilled."  Or even, "I feel like something is missing in my life."  Even when things are going well, there's always that little gnawing feeling on the inside.  It is our hunger for God.  We're made by God and for God, and until we understand that, life will never make sense."  --pg. xi

As a woman now in her 50's... (yikes! Did i just use my outside voice to say that?? - Oops!)-- I have definitely seen myself and many of my friends invest too much time, years sometimes, into something or someone that we thought would be the THING that was going to ultimately make us happy.   For some of us, it was a career.  I definitely fell for that lie.  I convinced myself that once I became successful in my career, I would be happy, feel complete, and everything else in my life would fall into place.  Boy, was I in for a rude awakening on SO many levels!!  ---- For others, it was finding the right husband.  "If I could just find the right guy to love me, then I'll be happy."  Really?  I think the divorce rate these days proves that one wrong.   Looking to another human being to make you happy is never a good idea.

 I even had one friend who was always moving from house to house.  With each house, she would declare she had finally found the perfect home, but within a few months, even weeks sometime, she would start finding the flaws.  "Well, it doesn't have quite enough closet space." or "I really wish there were 2 sinks in the master bedroom."....always something that wasn't quite... well, perfect.   The truth is, she wasn't comfortable with herself.  She thought that moving from place to place, another fresh start, that somehow it would change her.

 There are plenty of things on this planet that might make us more comfortable on the outside for awhile, but there is nothing that's going to make us comfortable on the inside forever. There is nothing will give us that lasting sense of fulfillment that we are all looking for.

"No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied.  No matter how much we hear, we are not content."  Ecclesiastes 1:8

Solomon knew what he was talking about.  Solomon, as a king, could have anything he wanted.  He had all the money he could ever want/need.  He was surrounded by gold and silver.  Any woman he wanted, he could have.  He had status, respect and power.  Yet, he wrote those words in Ecclesiastes. Solomon knew that none of those things were what really satisfied him.  Only God can do that.

"Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your hearts desires."  Psalm 37:4  -- Don't seek happiness, seek God! 
That's something I am definitely working on.  Making seeking God each day my main priority, and letting everything else in my life fall into place around that.

How 'bout you?   What do you do each day to make seeking God your priority?