Training our Hunger
by Pamela Meeks
We commonly metaphorically speak about our heart & its desires as a hunger or a thirst, drawing heavily upon the role of our will and impulses. When we talk about our deep desires as something we hunger for, we can easily assume that our hunger just exists as a reality, something that is more like an impulse that is untrainable. But some of us have experience with training our hungers away from what we may be accustomed to. I have. When my husband and I first moved to Turkey we missed eating pork. Then, we found that over time, we didn’t miss it anymore. We had directed our hearts and our taste buds towards an alternative. We consciously aimed it elsewhere having decided that we were willing to change our hunger because it didn’t serve us well to be distracted by an unfillable desire.
Hunger and thirst are a common metaphor in the Bible. For instance, turn to Psalm 42:12, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” Are you in touch with what your soul really wants? Do you have words for yearning in your soul? As you might expect, it helps when we are made aware of and attend to whether we feed the desires or try to starve them. Some of us were young and moldable when we recognized a thirst for the living God. Maybe we were in a church setting that knew how to foster a yearning for God, teaching us that we only find satisfaction when we take our souls to God.
Does it mean that it is too late to learn a new habit?
Can we encourage new thirsts and hungers which are satisfied only by God’s presence?
Of course, we can find joy and satisfaction in pleasurable life events apart from a walk with God. But we Christians believe that a truly fulfilling life is dependent on knowing the one who knows us best. Jesus has given us an example of a full life, one where our souls are aligned with God and our struggle, as adults, is to align our hungers in a Godward direction. Even if we did not get good habits established when we are young, it is not too late. Most of Jesus’ first followers didn’t start young. They met Jesus later in life. They were ordinary and everyday people, but they were attracted to Jesus and their lives were changed by being with him. It is work to teach our hearts to thirst and hunger for God, but the pursuit of it is well worth the effort.
The Rev. Pamela Meeks is the Associate Rector at Church of the Epiphany in Chantilly, VA.