I love a good online shopping sesh.
I’ll stop short on social media for a cleverly-curated ad, suddenly convinced that this thing (non-existent in my world a mere moment before) is exactly what’s been missing in my life. I’ll admire someone’s outfit, then find myself scouring the internet to find it. I swoon at the siren song of a sale, thinking that if I don’t find the perfect bargain on page one, surely it’s buried in the annals of the internet on page twenty.
The thing is, the clicking never ends. My hunger is never satisfied. The status and acceptance I attach to new items is superficial and short-lived. However picture-worthy my home, however overflowing my closet, my heart is not filled more. My longing only intensifies.
In our First Reading today, it sounds like Job’s got it all, but in truth this happily ever arrives only after Job has lost it all. Job always believed in God, but it's only when he's brought to his knees—grieving family, relationships, and livelihood—that Job develops an unshakably real, brutally honest, intimate relationship with God (Job 42).
Lately, the Lord has been speaking deep into my heart about detachment and returning double. These ideas seem contradictory at first, but actually partner to bring about real freedom and fulfillment that only make sense in the context of a real relationship with God.
Job knew these truths well; it was only through detachment that his hands became free enough to receive all that God longed to give. In Job's battle for detachment, God restores double—and then some.
We cling to all sorts of worldly attachments—acceptance, status, material things, even putting seemingly good desires like relationship and vocation before God. Sooner or later the emptiness or grief catches up, and we find ourselves faced with the central question of our heart:
Is God enough?
God—and only God—can be enough, when we loosen our grip on worldly attachment and flee temptation to chase after Him.
The One Who can fully satisfy can start to restore double when we're free to receive, so much so that our once empty, longing hearts overflow.
Only God can be enough. // @megan_hjelmstadClick to tweet
Pray the Suscipe prayer today.
Megan Hjelmstad (“Helm-stead”) is a wife, enthusiastic hockey mom, and Army Veteran living in Denver, CO. After serving fifteen years in the United States Army, Megan now serves the Church as an author, speaker, and women's mentor in her “spare” time. Megan loves to share God’s hope in suffering and is the author of Offer it Up: Discovering the Power and Purpose of Redemptive Suffering. She’s a long-time team member of Blessed is She and a writer and speaker for several other ministries. Megan adores books, sleep, sunshine, and Colorado’s great outdoors almost as much as she adores Jesus in the Eucharist. Learn more at MeganHjelmstad.com.
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