Dear Father,
I pondered on the conversation Jesus had with the Samaritan woman. I was particularly struck when she said, “I have no husband,” and His response to her, saying, “Thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband...”
Five husbands?! What exactly fueled this drive? Should I call it a need, an obsession, or the air she thought she must keep breathing to stay alive? How was she able to seek more after having two, even after having five? I may never know the exact reason she kept trusting that, after five failed relationships with men, what she still needed was a relationship with one more, but I see a case of fitting wrong solutions into unrelated problems. And sadly, some of us are guilty as well--of seeking perfection in imperfect things.
We may not go seeking and obtaining a list of husbands and ex-husbands, but perhaps we have obtained a list of certificates and still seek more, whose acquisitions may not be bad in themselves but are still faulty because of our motives for acquiring them: to be better or to feel complete? In this context, there is a need to distinguish between fulfilment and complements: people and material things can become complements to what You are doing in our lives, but they are not designed to be the source of our fulfilment.
So the issue arises when we strive to find fulfilment in complements, and with temporary satisfaction, we seek even harder, seeking the right things in the wrong places. I pondered again on the various areas of my life where I may be found wanting.
Translations;
Slide 1: English
Slide 2: French
Slide 3: Bengali
Slide 4: Hindi
Slide 5: Urdu
Slide 6 : Portuguese
#LettertoGod #fulfilment #completeness #perfection #solutionsDear Father,
I pondered on the conversation Jesus had with the Samaritan woman. I was particularly struck when she said, “I have no husband,” and His response to her, saying, “Thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband...”
Five husbands?! What exactly fueled this drive? Should I call it a need, an obsession, or the air she thought she must keep breathing to stay alive? How was she able to seek more after having two, even after having five? I may never know the exact reason she kept trusting that, after five failed relationships with men, what she still needed was a relationship with one more, but I see a case of fitting wrong solutions into unrelated problems. And sadly, some of us are guilty as well--of seeking perfection in imperfect things.
We may not go seeking and obtaining a list of husbands and ex-husbands, but perhaps we have obtained a list of certificates and still seek more, whose acquisitions may not be bad in themselves but are still faulty because of our motives for acquiring them: to be better or to feel complete? In this context, there is a need to distinguish between fulfilment and complements: people and material things can become complements to what You are doing in our lives, but they are not designed to be the source of our fulfilment.
So the issue arises when we strive to find fulfilment in complements, and with temporary satisfaction, we seek even harder, seeking the right things in the wrong places. I pondered again on the various areas of my life where I may be found wanting.
Translations;
Slide 1: English
Slide 2: French
Slide 3: Bengali
Slide 4: Hindi
Slide 5: Urdu
Slide 6 : Portuguese
#LettertoGod
#fulfilment
#completeness
#perfection
#solutions
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