Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Living Unsatisfied

I was having a conversation with a new friend this morning. I don't know her well, but I can see that she is thin and beautiful. I know as a runner she is athletic and strong. None of these are the things that are what make me glad to be getting to know her, but these are the observations that are related to what I want to share.
As we were talking her toddler was there with us, and amidst some silliness and play amidst the three of us, her child pinched at her middle. In the moment she made herself vulnerable and looked at me and made comment about "of course that was where the child grabbed." Experience told me she meant on her "fat." 
Now I have to be honest, when I look at this woman, I envy her condition, she is slim (because she works at it), and it was as I was in the shower tonight as I looked down on my own naked rolls, that I thought about our previous interaction.
Now most of us has had the obnoxious experience of hearing a thin person call themselves fat (but not truly wanting to improve, rather just seeking a compliment), but that was NOT what my friend was doing. Her child grabbed her in a place where she sincerely felt "less" (or more, perhaps) than what she considers ideal.  She, it seemed to me, was unsatisfied.
Please do not confuse unsatisfied with dissatisfied, because what occurred to me tonight is that the two words are NOT synonymous. I did not sense the lack of contentment in my friend that comes with DISsatisfaction.
Being dissatisfied has a lot to do with being unhappy, having no joy or contentment ones circumstance or state of being. Whereas being UNsatisfied speaks more to of an unfinished accomplishment, an aspiration not yet achieved.
As I considered this tonight (yes, naked in the shower) it occurred to me that living unsatisfied is a very good place to be.
It is living unsatisfied that keeps a victorious dieter continuing to make good choices in diet and exercise even after one has reached a weight loss goal. And in the far more critical sense of a person's spiritual life, their walk of faith, if you will, it is this "living unsatisfied" that keeps a Christian "pressing on on the upward call of Jesus Christ."
As dangerous as living DISsatisfied in the Christian walk can be, I think living SATISFIED is the most dangerous risk of all.
Satisfied does not equal contentment. Contentment is finding joy and peace where you are, but satisfaction is losing the desire to ever move any further. That is never God's will for us. The Bible says that God is working on us continually "until the day of Christ." Living unsatisfied is signing on and affirming "Yes Lord, continue working on and growing me."
It's living unsatisfied that keeps seeking God, heart, soul, mind and strength. It's what keeps us praying, learning, reading the Word, going to church.
The unsatisfied life is the life that's really living. The unsatisfied life is the life I want to live, seeking God, wanting more, more of Him and more of what He has for me.
Live unsatisfied!!!