There's No Quick Fix

Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away, and that the Lord may grant you times of refreshment. // Acts 3:19-20

Refreshment sounds invigorating, restful, and renewing. Refreshment sounds both extravagant, like a blissful vacation by a mountain lake, and necessary, like a glass of water on a hot Texas day. My soul yearns for it.

Longing for refreshment, I keep going back to what doesn’t satisfy. I know Jesus saves, but I keep scrolling through social media looking for a dopamine rush. I know Jesus’ Sacred Heart burns with more love for me than I’ll ever know, but I keep putting too much emphasis on human relationships to feel loved and known. I know starting my day in prayer connects me with the Lord’s love and will, but I scramble to clean up kitchen messes or pay bills first.

Every time I choose something or someone other than God, I turn away from Him. When my priorities are out of whack—a clean kitchen only lasts ten minutes with teenage boys in the house, how fleeting that satisfaction is!—my soul can’t truly be at peace.

(Lest this train of thought become scrupulous, I don’t mean to say that any of us must live an austere contemplative life to seek God and avoid sin. On the contrary, I know that He pursues us and delights in us in our ordinary lives. The Carmelites I know will tell you that they, too, live rather ordinary lives, even in their contemplative vocation. Someone has to do the laundry and dishes, feed and walk the monastery dog, and work in the garden.)

There’s no quick fix or human love to satisfy what my weak human will craves.

The remedy to my cravings and the balm for my weary love-seeking soul is Jesus.

Only and always Jesus. He is the one thing necessary.

“Repent, therefore, and be converted.” The Sacrament of Confession offers us frequent opportunities for this repentance. I repent to renounce my ignorance once my eyes have been opened. To reject my self-centeredness when I see how empty social media (or any other dopamine-laced habit) truly is. To then return in humility to the Lord and be renewed in His forgiving graces.

Once I do that, I find myself more free to gaze at Him and His Sacred Heart. To see beauty and goodness. To be filled with the fire of His love.

Seek Him first with me this Easter season. The Risen Jesus has all we can ever ask for, and more. He alone will give our souls the refreshment they crave.

{formbuilder:MTAxMDY1}