(Posted by Kris Skinner)
Bruce Springsteen references this week’s Book Discussion Themes in the chorus of his song Hungry Heart: “Everybody’s got a hungry heart, Everybody’s got a hungry heart. Lay down your money and you play your part, Everybody’s got a hungry heart.”
This week, Joe Paprocki compels us to examine the mini-addictions some of us develop in life when we cease to recognize our limits. I use an old Lay’s potato chip ad campaign to illustrate the premise that we often turn to food or alcohol to fill a void that actually goes much deeper than ordinary hunger or thirst. While we eat to satisfy a physical hunger, often we ignore the message sent by the brain’s hypothalamus that we are full. Years ago, while in Weight Watchers, I was taught it takes the brain at least twenty minutes to register that hunger has been satisfied. How often have I reached for the bowl of ice cream or the bag of chips and plopped down in front of the TV or computer, totally tuning out the needs of my body or the so much deeper needs of my hungry soul? I take comfort in the fact that I’m not alone in this battle, though. Plenty of my contemporaries may binge at times on other non-food items including shopping, video gaming, tobacco or other drugs, sex, work, exercise, gambling, etc.
At the times of our lives when we get stuck in some of these behaviors, we can remain stuck by keeping our heads buried in the sand or we can, as Paprocki suggests, wake up and smell the coffee. On page 68, the author writes:
“Spiritual wellness is about being awake. It is about paying attention to your thirst, not drowning yourself in an effort to quench it.”
The Twelve Steps, and more specifically Step #4, teach us to “Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.” Trust me, I’ve learned this cannot be accomplished while my head is buried deep within a bag of Doritos. Once the crumbs have settled and binger’s remorse sets in (and it ALWAYS does!), I am left with an empty bag of chips and the million dollar question: What am I really hungry for? Or, what’s eating me up inside?
So, as I approach yet another birthday that moves me even closer to the half-century mark here on this planet, I am forced to accept the fact that I need to be honest with myself, forgive myself, and truly begin to examine the rumblings of my God-starved soul. I cannot do any of this alone and that realization does not make me a wimp. Rather, I believe the fact that I am strengthened by my faith community and through prayer I can ask God to fill the void that nothing else seems to satisfy. John Eldridge sums this up by offering his take on what Blaise Pascal originally said:
“You can be satisfied, you just can’t be sated. There is a great joy in a glass of cabernet; the whole bottle is another thing. The Israelites tried to hoard the manna—and it crawled with maggots. Our soul’s insatiable desire becomes the venom…when it demands its fill here and now, through the otherwise beautiful and good gifts of our lives.”
Daily I need to remind myself that the same Awesome God who created me dwells deep within my hungry heart. Moving towards total trust in God will allow me to start shedding some of the fears and anxieties that keep me from resting in God’s grace. It will in turn allow me more time to experience the beauty of the world around me and lead me to a spirit of gratitude and peace. May you realize today the beauty that surrounds you, given freely to you by our amazing and loving God.
http://www.gratefulness.org/brotherdavid/a-good-day.htm
This week, Joe Paprocki compels us to examine the mini-addictions some of us develop in life when we cease to recognize our limits. I use an old Lay’s potato chip ad campaign to illustrate the premise that we often turn to food or alcohol to fill a void that actually goes much deeper than ordinary hunger or thirst. While we eat to satisfy a physical hunger, often we ignore the message sent by the brain’s hypothalamus that we are full. Years ago, while in Weight Watchers, I was taught it takes the brain at least twenty minutes to register that hunger has been satisfied. How often have I reached for the bowl of ice cream or the bag of chips and plopped down in front of the TV or computer, totally tuning out the needs of my body or the so much deeper needs of my hungry soul? I take comfort in the fact that I’m not alone in this battle, though. Plenty of my contemporaries may binge at times on other non-food items including shopping, video gaming, tobacco or other drugs, sex, work, exercise, gambling, etc.
At the times of our lives when we get stuck in some of these behaviors, we can remain stuck by keeping our heads buried in the sand or we can, as Paprocki suggests, wake up and smell the coffee. On page 68, the author writes:
“Spiritual wellness is about being awake. It is about paying attention to your thirst, not drowning yourself in an effort to quench it.”
The Twelve Steps, and more specifically Step #4, teach us to “Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.” Trust me, I’ve learned this cannot be accomplished while my head is buried deep within a bag of Doritos. Once the crumbs have settled and binger’s remorse sets in (and it ALWAYS does!), I am left with an empty bag of chips and the million dollar question: What am I really hungry for? Or, what’s eating me up inside?
So, as I approach yet another birthday that moves me even closer to the half-century mark here on this planet, I am forced to accept the fact that I need to be honest with myself, forgive myself, and truly begin to examine the rumblings of my God-starved soul. I cannot do any of this alone and that realization does not make me a wimp. Rather, I believe the fact that I am strengthened by my faith community and through prayer I can ask God to fill the void that nothing else seems to satisfy. John Eldridge sums this up by offering his take on what Blaise Pascal originally said:
“You can be satisfied, you just can’t be sated. There is a great joy in a glass of cabernet; the whole bottle is another thing. The Israelites tried to hoard the manna—and it crawled with maggots. Our soul’s insatiable desire becomes the venom…when it demands its fill here and now, through the otherwise beautiful and good gifts of our lives.”
Daily I need to remind myself that the same Awesome God who created me dwells deep within my hungry heart. Moving towards total trust in God will allow me to start shedding some of the fears and anxieties that keep me from resting in God’s grace. It will in turn allow me more time to experience the beauty of the world around me and lead me to a spirit of gratitude and peace. May you realize today the beauty that surrounds you, given freely to you by our amazing and loving God.
http://www.gratefulness.org/brotherdavid/a-good-day.htm