...wants unfulfilled longings ("Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On")

 When I was young, my family didn't have much money. We lived in a 12'*60', single-wide trailer. My mom made a lot of mine and my sister's clothes. I remember a yellow dress she made me, and I remember telling her it wasn't my favorite color. I really just wanted my clothes to look like my friends, so then  we wore a lot of hand-me-downs. I started looking for name brands in the bags that arrived at our home -- Gloria Vanderbilt, Izod, etc. Then the problem came that I was a scrawny, stringy, scrappy kid. The person who gave the clothes was obviously not built like me. My nickname was "Skelly" -- short for skeleton. (I had an extremely high metabolism.) So, then we were able to start buying clothes from the store. I hated the fact that my mom would buy my jeans in the boy's department, and then when I finally got old enough and tall enough to have to have store-bought, girl clothes, the stores didn't hardly carry size 0s, 1s, and 3s. Then when I started my career with State Farm, we wore suits. Do you know that I asked my momma to make me some of my suits? I had come back full circle.

I wanted. I wanted the next best thing. Then when I got it, I wanted the NEXT best thing. And when I got that, I wanted the NEXT best thing until I realized the best thing was what I started off with -- taylor-made-to-fit clothes. I'm afraid our society has become more and more like that, and we are facilitating that logic and feeding that desire in our children. We don't think they should go without. Our children lack for nothing. Our children work for nothing. What are we teaching our children by doing this to them? It's okay to live in excess and outside your capability to have the next best thing? We are setting them up for financial failure, as if we aren't seeing the results in this financial market of feeding our own longings.

Just for the record -- this train of thought is NOT Biblical. I'm teaching a Sunday school, Bible study on the book "Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free." One of the lies we believe is "I Should Not Have to Live with Unfulfilled Longings." It's true. If we do not have unfufilled longings, we have nothing to work for, nothing to work towards, and our children need to learn the value of working to attain. Not only that, but as Christians, all of our longings should not be filled here on Earth. We shouldn't look for all of our longings to be filled here on Earth either.

The Bible says, "And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus," Philippians 4:19.  "Needs" are completely different, and the way He defines "needs" is probably completely different than how we define "needs."

When we look to fill voids with things or expect a person to fill longings, we are setting ourselves up to be hurt, disappointed at best. Psalms 73:25 says, "Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you." Where are your eyes focused? On what your neighbor has? On a person you want to love you? Where should you be focused? On the one who created you and me.

If our children go without, you think they might learn to rely on God more and learn that reliance at an earlier age? If we forgo the earthly stuff that can burn like hay and stubble and live within our means, you think maybe we would have a closer walk with God? Life without distraction of earthly things...hmmm. Living life without being financially yolked to the NEXT BEST THING...I want it. I want to have unfulfilled longings that can only be filled when I see my Savior face-to-face in the most beautiful place of all, heaven. I want unfulfilled longings. Please God, create that hunger in me. Create it in me.

Just something to think about this Friday morning.

Have a great day.