I have been seeking fulfillment in my life. That’s where my last post and the doubts/questions I had came from. Religion is my fulfillment fallback.
I spent a couple of days languishing over the idea of returning to the church when it hit me – it was only when I was talking to someone who I would be closer to if I were a Christian again that I really felt the emotional tug. When I was alone with my own thoughts and minding my own business, God was nowhere to be found. The need or want for God was gone.
Why do we look for things outside of our own lives to give us fulfillment? It seems simpler and easier to use something like religion to fulfill our lives because it’s all readymade and tied up with a little bow. There are lists and rules and programs already in place so that we don’t have to look within ourselves to figure out who we are and what we want.
There are far too many people, including myself, who have never taken the time or effort to find their own sense of fulfillment in their lives. I’ve always relied on my pre-fabricated bubble to give me everything I thought I needed in my life. And when times get tough, I fall back into the familiar.
So here’s to finding real fulfillment within yourself in 2010.
Cheers!
Sure religion can be a fallback for some people but religion and a relationship with Christ are two totally different things. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for me and for you… to save us from our sins. However, I also believe that some church going folks don’t even have the basics down from what I have gathered from the bible… which yes I have read from front to back… but no I do not totally understand. You and I both know how I feel about the typical “christian” who is hypicritical and judge mental which in general most people are whether they are christian or not. Anyways, my question to you is… did you ever have a real relationship with Christ or was it always an front you put on to please other people? The reason I ask this is because if I know you as well as I think I know you…lol… you were the way you were because you thought is how you had to be to please everyone. the way you had to be to be a “good christian” In reality a relationship with Christ does not always look the same. I am nor will I ever be the proper christian but I love my God and I thank Jesus daily for the life he gave so that I could feel the grace of God.
On another note Miss Amanda life is a journey. Some people never stop to find themselves on the way and other never chose to get of the bench and keep going. Can a person completely ever know themselves? Are we not changing and growing at each day, at each experience? Are we not always going to be works in progress? I know I hope that I will continue to grow as a person each day each experience because the day I stop learning is the day my sould dies.
Love you
[Reply]
Perhaps, Mandi.
Or perhaps when we talked that was the first time in a long time that you were able to truly open up your heart to God since you ran away.
Though you are wrong in one thing for certain. Loving God is not something outside of our own lives. It is very much integrated, and has been ever since we came to be. In fact, it is a missing piece in so many people’s lives.
We spend our entire lives, some of us, searching for something to make us complete. Maybe it’s a husband or wife, maybe it’s a family, maybe it’s a new HD tv, or a brand new car. Maybe it’s a satisfying career, or supportive friend. Maybe it’s the journey “finding ourselves”. Maybe it’s God.
[Reply]
Omygoodness, girl. I had to laugh when I read this because there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING about my relationship with the God of the universe that is readymade or tied up in a bow. My past churchy-ness was like that. But I am walking in the Holy Wild now where He walks with me and talks with me. You know me. You know I know Him or I am the craziest person you have ever met, right?
Religion? Well, it is what happens when mere mortals try to understand and somehow systemize something so outrageous and unbelievable they cannot comprehend nor communicate it sufficiently. No one means to take the glory out of the mysterious. I used to be the worst at it. I was religious and imposed it. God found me amusing anyway, and His love (so deep, so true He’d do anything to win my heart) never let go. Tidy relgion be damned. Christ set me free for this! This messy existance. This silly ridiculous gift of a life. I am not going back!
[Reply]