[I Thirst] Day 29 – Leaving Behind the Water Jar

Farmer of Hearts - Finding God in All Things

Everyone must have had this painful experience before, that is when the person you love doesn't understand you —— doesn't understand your pain, your difficulties, your feelings, your struggles —— this kind of pain is indescribable. The more you love that person, the harder it is to bear such pain. This feeling of not being understood can bring about a strong sense of loneliness, as if no one in this world understands you and can care for you in a way that suits you. The longer this situation persists, the more disappointed, discouraged and even hopeless a person can become. This kind of situation often happens between spouses, because they see each other as the closest person and should be the one who understands them the most. But the higher the expectation, the more disappointed they become. Because everyone's needs are different, the expectations are also very different. This gap brings about many misunderstandings, conflicts, and even separation.

Therefore, some people give up seeking fulfillment from people and turn to objects or other desires, such as fame, status, pleasure, wealth, and so on. Regardless of whether it is for people or objects, everyone has some desires and wants, without exception. Therefore, everyone is pursuing something in their lives, and before obtaining that thing, they are in a state of longing, or you could say, in a state of dryness, and no one is immune from that. The sooner a person can identify what they need and desire, the sooner they can devote themselves to finding it, and the sooner they can find satisfaction and consolation in their heart and spirit.

Therefore, life can be seen as a process of constantly seeking the desires buried deep in our hearts. This process requires us to keep trying and usually involves stumbling and falling before the truth is found. Unfortunately, many people spend their whole lives without finding it and live in a state of emptiness until their last moments.

So, in this process of constant searching, we need to continuously review our desires, gradually elevating them from lower-level desires to higher-level ones. Fame, status, pleasure, and wealth are all low-level desires that cannot satisfy our true needs in the long run. Instead, they make us crave for more, with even more desires, and makes it harder for us to be satisfied, like falling into a bottomless pit.

The desire for relationships between people is a higher-level desire pursued by many wise people, who have accumulated more wisdom in life that allows them to see things more clearly. But as we mentioned at the beginning, to fulfill this desire, deep mutual understanding and the same degree of mutual desire are required. It takes a lifetime of effort for us to learn and achieve perfection.

No matter whether we can satisfy our inner desires through people, the truth is that the deepest desire in our hearts does not come from external things or from people, but from the Creator who made us. Because we are all created by our Heavenly Father, only He knows each of our needs best; only He has the means to satisfy our deepest needs; only He can continuously and permanently meet these needs, so that we don’t need to quench our thirst among other lower-level desires.

We all know that for any relationship to be fruitful, it requires the cooperation of both parties. And we can be sure that God's desire for us far exceeds our desire for Him. So we can trust God completely and be certain that if we invest our limited lifespan in this relationship, we will not be disappointed, but also bear endless fruit. This endless fruit is that our lives will no longer feel dry, we will no longer feel not being understood, and we will never need to look elsewhere for other ways to "quench our thirst"! At that magical moment, we can truly experience the same astonishment as the Samaritan woman who encountered Jesus, and we will immediately receive spiritual satisfaction. Our whole being will be transformed, and we will joyfully and resolutely put down the water jar and share with others the gift of meeting our Lord Jesus!

Reflection

Of all the longings you have tried to satisfy in your life, which ones have given you more lasting satisfaction?

What are those desires and longings in your life that you keep trying to satisfy but cannot bring you lasting joy and peace?

Are you willing to be more open to God's thirst for you?

Today’s Prayer

Abba Father, please forgive my dullness. I have been striving to satisfy other desires in my life, thinking they could fill the loneliness and emptiness in my soul. Despite years of trying, they have not brought me spiritual joy and satisfaction. Yet, I continue to pursue these unimportant things and have not opened myself to receive Your desires for me, causing You to wait for me endlessly. Please forgive me for constantly hurting Your heart and help me see clearly once again that only You can satisfy the deep longings of my soul. Heavenly Father, please help me turn to You wholeheartedly! I pray this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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