Attending the University of Arkansas, there was an all-you-can-eat Tuesday night pizza buffet. It was nearly fifty years ago, but I remember it like yesterday. It was not the pizza or low price that stands out today. It was the Razorback basketball game I attended after consuming far too many slices of pizza. I do not remember who won the game because all I wanted was relief from the indulgence of too much pizza and the beverages I drank, trying to quench the thirst it created. My desire for the pleasures of the world is in stark comparison. I consume the world’s fruit incessantly, and I am unhappy with life. (The Practice of Christian Meditation and Prayer)
Three thousand years ago, Solomon, one of the wealthiest kings, wrote, “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, which was the reward for all my toil. When I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.” (Eccles. 2:10-11))
The tragic story of my life is that I am perpetually pursuing earthly desires but starving to death in the hunger of my soul and spirit. King Solomon understood the world’s pleasures lasted for a moment and then disappeared forever.
“If you are starving and can find nothing to satisfy your hunger, then come, Come, and you will be filled.” Jeanne Guyon
Photo: Tanya Impeartice Old Main University of Arkansas
