Wholeness Pt 2: Destination Disease

As a kid, you probably could hardly wait until you were you graduated high school so you could get out of your parents’ home and live independently. After graduation, you started working, paying bills, handling adult responsibilities, and dealing with difficult people and problems on a daily basis. It was then that you started to appreciate your parents for handling finances and issues for you in the past. Then you probably endeavored to find the right person to start a family with, spend the rest of your life with, and live happily ever after. Maybe you’re still waiting until your children are grown and out of the house, or when they finish their degree so you won’t have to pay any more tuition. Or you’re ready for them to marry and give you grandchildren. And so on.

Maybe there’re something else you can’t wait to do. What is it? Are you in a constant state of discontent and desperation? Some call this destination diseases. The root issue is lack of wholeness. When we feel empty, we tend to never feel satisfied. We risk filling those voids with unnecessary things and toxic people.

No amount of money, material things, success, relational contacts, fame, sex, education, love, or adventure will make us feel complete. After accumulating all these things, we’d realize, it’s all meaningless. This is why we should endeavor to receive wholeness from God.

Mercy Torres wrote in her article, “Why We Need to Stop Chasing Success and Start Enjoying the Little Things in Life”:

Now I have everything I wanted back then, but it doesn’t feel like you’d think it would feel. What was I expecting? I didn’t feel any different than I always felt, except that I had a corner office, a fancier house, and nicer clothes.

An ideally located office—this is what it all came down to in the end? It’s very anticlimactic when the new car smell wears off, and all you have is a large payment and more hours at work.

We all think that when we’re at the top, everything should be amazing, but it’s not. Your children have grown older, and you don’t remember the little things.

Your purpose was to dance until the end, but you were so focused on the end that you forgot to dance.

Prayer

Lord, thank You so much that You provide the wholeness we need. Thank You that we don’t have to search anywhere else to attempt to fill any voids in our lives. I pray that You will help us invite You into each and every area of our lives. Help us build an intimate relationship with You so we’ll experience You welling up in us on a daily basis. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Exercise

Is there anything or anyone you’re longing for? What or who is it? How will this accomplishment, item, or person improve your life? Will it (or they) make you whole?