Never-Satiated

 

Last week, I offered quotes from a book I recently read and enjoyed, The Fix by Ian Morgan Cron.  Today, I would like to share insights and ideas from another book, Sacred Attachment, by Michael John Cusick.  Cusick is working with attachment theory.   This is the deep desire in our human software programming that we want to have emotional bonds with others.  These connections are what help us manage stress, fear, and uncertainty.  Remember, all of life is relationships ~ with yourself, God, and others (or as Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” ~ Mark 12:30-31)

 

Or as God sang in Genesis 2:18, “It is not good for the human to be alone.  I will make a helper suitable ~ a companion and co-collaborator.”  Or as we talked a few weeks ago about the space in you and the space in others.  When those two spaces combine in a Venn Diagram of life and energy, there is a third space.

 

No one is an isolated island; no one is self-made, even though this runs counter to what our culture preaches, proclaims, and proscribes at the good life.  Cusick writes: “We want to be seen, soothed, safe, and secure in our lives.”  Life is like spinning in a tilt-a-whirl that is disorienting and dizzy.  There is a gap between the Gospel promise of Jesus to love and the reality of life.  Wait, pause, where do you sense a gap between what Jesus described as flourishing and your life today?  Cusick writes, “We struggle with unmet longings and expectations… our heart is ravenous in an over-indulgent world…never satiated.”

 

Notice how this “never-satiated” thirst is like what Cron described as addiction last week; we get attached to that which promises to make everything better, but doesn’t.  Or maybe the action helps numb the ache for a while, but then you wake up with a hangover or open your credit card statement or look in the mirror to discover that happiness wasn’t found where you thought it would be.  Jesus reminds us that God’s love has us.  God’s love is the shelter where we can be seen fully, our souls soothed, safe, and secure.  Rewind and review the videotape called “Your Life” and note times you felt seen, soothed, safe, and secure.  Maybe it was at summer camp, church service, a friend’s home, or a place you call home right now.  Take time to hold each word ~ seen, soothed, safe, and secure.  In fact, write down each word on a separate piece of paper and then fill that page with people, places, experiences, and events when that word was fully encountered and embodied in your life.  Name people who see you.  Name people to who you show God’s unconditional love.  Name places where you are free to be fully who God calls and crafts you to be.  May this exercise be a holy prayer practice for you.  Amen.