Why It’s Okay to Lack Satisfaction in Life
It’s a spring-like winter day, and I offer the kids a trip to visit the calves at the neighboring farm. I’m not really thinking about satisfaction in life, but our time under open skies is about to reframe my perspective on winter and on life in general.
This time of year, the once-lush fields are dingy with winter. Corn stubble blankets hazel earth, and the verdant clover is drab and beige.
We walk beneath grey skies, and from some precisely placed break in the clouds, a fiery sun blazes coral as it slips toward the horizon. We’re walking westward, and it seems we’re chasing down the light.
“The sun sure looks funny tonight,” Bekah says, reading my thoughts as usual.
Before I have time to respond, she says, “Maybe Jesus is coming on the clouds, and this is how it looks as he gets closer.”
Why We Struggle to Find Satisfaction in This Life
She’s been thinking of this often lately.
When the towering cumulonimbus clouds form their cauliflower heads, she’s sure he’ll come on clouds that look just like them. When the high cirrus clouds form wispy feather fingers against blue so clear you could drink it, she decides these clouds would be most fitting.
“I still don’t get how everyone in the world is going to see him at the same time,” she says, stopping to look for slow-moving winter frogs at the mouth of a pond by the road.
“I don’t know either, babe,” I say, and before I can elaborate, we’re somehow talking about springtime and tadpoles and where we put the frog-catching nets.
Why You Might Lack Satisfaction in Life
Our walk gets me thinking, though.
Winter makes me long for long summer evenings lying in the backyard while the neighbor boys join the kids in the sandbox. I long for warm sun on my skin, luxuriant rolling fields of emerald, and watching summer rain showers from the shelter of the red barn down the road.
Winter makes me long for seasons when I sense a deeper kind of satisfaction in life.
And then summer comes, and I’m filled with joy.
However, by the end of August, I’m ready for autumn. I’m ready for leaf piles, counting pumpkins on our way to soccer practice, and mums on doorsteps.
And as the seasons roll on, there are moments of sheer joy. But there are also moments when I admit to myself that I’m utterly unsatisfied with my life.
I struggle with a lack of fulfillment, a desire for something more, something I can’t quite name. I feel like I’m chasing a kind of abundance I might never find.
It dawns on me as we wait for Jesus to come riding through the glowing swell in the thick canopy of grey clouds: It’s entirely healthy and okay that I can’t find the satisfaction I crave in this life.
We all lack satisfaction in life because we were made for more than this life.
God made us for more than just this life. He designed us to live in a face-to-face relationship with him. He created us for the kind of relationship Adam and Eve enjoyed before sin separated them in the garden.
God created us for heaven, and this earth will never entirely be home. It is okay to live with a holy longing for heaven, a burning desire to behold the face of God and bow before his throne. Nothing else will satisfy.
What to do when you lack satisfaction:
Are you feeling dissatisfied with the way your life is turning out?
There are plenty of things you can do to get on track. (Read here for a list of 11 ways to find replenishment.)
Nevertheless, when you still crave more, maybe it’s time to fan the flame of hunger.
Maybe it’s time to let the fire of desire burn, realizing that it’s a passion to encounter God and look into his face.
Maybe it’s time to let the dissatisfaction drive you to your knees in prayer, dig into a Bible with an expectation that he has something to say to you, and live with an ever-present longing for heaven.
~~~
We make it to the neighbors’ farm, pet the calves for a long while, and when we turn for the homeward journey, the flaming ball on the horizon has vanished.
“I was really hoping he was coming back today,” Bekah says, disappointed.
“Me too,” I agree. “Me too.”
A Free Devotional for When You Lack Satisfaction in Life:
God wants to speak into your life. Will you respond to his invitation today? I have a gift to help you respond today: My 10-day online devotional Fan the Flame. This devotional offers dozens of practical ways to connect with God and hear what he wants to speak to you. Click here, and I will send this devotional directly to your email inbox.
Calling all moms and daughters—and parents of boys!
As the parent of two sons and a daughter, I have a heart for helping parents develop deeper relationships with their children and with God. Our kids, ages 6, 11, and 14, share this vision. They have helped me write three family devotionals for parents or grandparents to read with the children they care about.
God’s Warrior: Devotions for Boys Who Want to Grow in Courage and Strength is for boys ages 5-13. Now, more than ever, our world needs men who are willing to courageously carry God’s love into the world. Written with input from our two young sons, Aiden and Caleb, ages six and eleven, this book will help the boys you care about find courage and strength in God. Find this life-changing devotional book here.
Devotionals for Girls
Girl to Girl: 60 Mother-Daughter Devotions for a Closer Relationship and Deeper Faith is written for girls ages 7-12. It includes 60 devotions with Scripture, conversation starters, and a shared journaling section for moms and daughters after each devotion. I wrote this book with the help of our daughter, Bekah, when she was eleven. Find this one-of-a-kind shared devotional here.
Heart to Heart: A Mother-Daughter Devotional With 50 Devotions for Teen Girls is for teenage girls ages 13-20. It includes 50 devotions, each with a shared journaling section to help moms and daughters connect through writing. This is a great book for moms who want to communicate about awkward topics—like dating, sexuality, peer pressure, and more—but don’t know where to start. Bekah and I will help you right here.
All three books are available in print and eBook form here on Amazon. They are also free on the Kindle Unlimited plan, which you can enjoy with a free three-month trial! These books make great gifts, and you don’t need to be the parent of young children to read them. Share them with your grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or the young ones you love.
Learn Why Willpower Doesn’t Work and Experience God’s Deliverance and Healing
God wants to work in your life to accomplish what you’ve been unable to do through willpower alone. Lean Into Grace: Let God’s Grace Heal Your Heart, Refresh Your Soul, and Set You Free shares practical ways to experience God’s freedom, healing, power, and presence in your life. Find this life-changing book as a free eBook on Kindle Unlimited or for 12.99 in print right here. (If you do not have Kindle Unlimited, you can try it out with a free three-month trial!) This book will transform your life and revitalize your relationship with the Lord!
