Cravings

When you are hungry have you ever gone to the refrigerator, opened the door and just stared. Nothing seemed appetizing. Nothing grabbed you as the thing that would satisfy your cravings. Sometimes we just don't know what we want.

We usually know when we are hungry, but we don't always know what it is that will really satisfy. This is true in our souls cravings as well, I believe. We haven't taken the time to gain an understanding of that which truly fulfills us. Appetites, cravings, likes and dislikes develop over time for different reasons.

When I was 8 years old, I had a birthday party with friends. My parents bought pizza for all the boys and we went bowling. The thing I remember the most about that birthday is that I threw up that pizza. And do you know I didn't eat pizza for years afterwards. Even today, a plain cheese pizza can be a thing of fear. Why? Because I associate it with being sick on my birthday! I never crave cheese pizza. My appetite was shaped by that one fateful day. I have a clear memory about why I don't like pizza, but each of us has hundreds of other appetites and cravings that we don't have any idea how they got shaped.

Our parents, our cultures, our exposures, our experiences, all take a part in shaping our likes and dislikes. But is that it? Are we just products of our environments? Or are we created to be a certain way? Are we born a certain way and there is nothing we can do to change that?
We live in an age where individual preference and choice reign supreme! Individualism seems to be celebrated at every turn. By marketing products with the prefex i, Apple has made themselves rich! The iPhone, iPod, iMac, iPad, will be found on most family Christmas lists for one individual or another. Let's not forget though, that if we wish to live a fulfilling, meaningful life, the quality of our relationships matters more than our standard of living and what new gadget we possess.

What is it that we really crave? I believe that we long to be loved and to love. Dale S. Kuehne, in his book, Sex and the iWorld, says, " Without being connected to the love God has for us, we cannot properly love others, we cannot be who we were created to be, and we become other than who we are meant to be. Our life becomes the quest to fill the hole in our heart. We often try to fill it by allowing our appetites to guide us. We gorge ourselves with food, sex, alcohol, and drugs, but none provide more than a fleeting gratification. We also try to fill the hole with work and the accumulation of things, but that doesn't work either. We grow bored and unfulfilled with each of these because none of them can satisfy our deepest longings. We have a sense that there ought to be more, but we cannot seem to find it no matter what we try."
So, are you connected to the love God has for you? Do you crave, or hunger after Him? Do you even understand your cravings? Do they lead you toward or away from the Love of God? Take some time and really think about these things today. You might be surprised at the answers you discover.