I needed my “fix”, and I was determined to get it.
And I was over-the-moon elated to find a parking spot right in front of the Starbucks door. After I unloaded my three partners in crime, got everyone inside, successfully kept little hands off popcorn, chocolate milk, chocolate covered espresso beans, and all the breakable mugs and goods, ordered, doctored my coffee, then corralled my troop of kids to get them out of the store and back into my mom-mobile to be buckled up, I put my van in reverse and began pulling out.
“Whew. Now it’s going to be a great day”, I thought to myself.
As I pulled out, my eyes drifted down from the rear-view mirror and to the woman in front of me standing on the curb. Just coming out of Starbucks with one hand filled to the brim with caffeinated goodness, and the other with a baked treat in the famous brown and green bag, her face was scrunched and wrinkled with fear and anxiety. It was like she was about to see a horrific accident. She began waving her brown bag, motioning frantically at me to stop. I slammed the gear into park and rolled down my window to see what was the matter.
She pointed up. My coffee was on the roof. Her sweet, merciful heart had just seen me break a sweat for the sake of my coffee. I just know she felt my frazzled pain and didn’t want to see me loose such precious treasure as I stepped on the gas.
I’m being a bit dramatic, but I have a point.
Cravings are powerful things.
I have been known to do coffee outings like this, or even put my kids in the car with a movie and hunt (driving miles out of my way) for to find a drive-through Starbucks on a rainy day…or any day I don’t have the gusto to go through the motions with my circus in tow. (And why don’t they have more of these for the moms like me who are desperate?!) It’s the iced coffee on these hot days- I absolutely want need it. I’d do almost anything for a grande iced coffee in a venti cup, with extra ice, sweetened with 2 sugars in the raw and filled to the top with cream. I have come to love it. Some call it an addiction. I call it necessary for my stage of life.
Do you ever crave a specific food or drink- so much that you go out of your way to find it and consume it?
Our spiritual appetites are just as real as our physical appetites. And both types of appetites drive us to action.
Our spirits have cravings and desires that can be detected and responded to. And as we respond to the things our spirits crave, we will be satisfied, just as we are satisfied when we respond to the things our bodies crave.
In the same way that I crave iced coffee on a summer day, I have come to believe that God made me to crave Him. I am convinced that God created all of us to hunger and thirst for Him. He made us with spiritual cravings that drive us into His arms. Our spiritual cravings look different in different seasons, but they should always point us back to Him.
Lately, since our miscarriage, I’ve found my spirit simply craving the pure word of God. Forget the fluffy devotions and the trending worship songs- I need the straight-up, trustworthy, rock solid Word of God sticking like glue to my heart and mind. “I.V. Jesus” as a friend recently told me she heard another woman say. YES. Please. Hook me up to the Jesus “I.V.” where I can get His word and His truth in the most direct way possible. I just crave His word.
So my question for you today… what is YOUR spirit craving?
We are so often consumed with our physical cravings that we live unaware of our spiritual cravings.
And friends, here’s a hint: sometimes it takes a “fast” from our physical desires to get in touch with our spiritual desires.
Fasting what we crave in our physical world aids to reduce and simplify the amount of noise and stuff and fillers, so our awareness God and His stirrings in our life can increase.
- If you know you are hungry for God, desiring time in prayer, depth in worship, space to study His truth, or aching to know inner healing He brings, go for it. Whatever it is you are seeking, make room for it in your day…and seek it! Jesus said that if we seek, we will find.
- If you are not feeling spiritually hungry, or don’t even really understand the concept, read these posts I wrote about 3 keys to spiritual hunger and 3 ways to grow your spiritual hunger.
Will you take a second to pray with me?
God- Thank you that you made me to crave you. I want to be more aware of your gift of spiritual hunger and desire. Show me how I was made to seek you and run after you, and what that looks like in this stage of life. Give me an overwhelming desire for You, that drowns out every other appetite.
Thank You that as I seek you, I will find you. Amen.
You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.
I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
~ Psalm 63:1-5 ~