What are you Searching For?

Early each morning my grandfather left the house to meet the delivery man at the store. Greeting the delivery man by name, he was the first one to lay eyes on the inventory – brand new Hot Wheels. Years of his life were spent hunting for and collecting these 25 cent children’s toys. 

He searched for the rare ones, but often he would end up with five or ten of the same kind in the process. Some were only different because of a tiny marking or hub cap color, but each had been sought out, purchased, entered into his record book, and then placed in a box to gather dust in the corner. Then the next morning, he’d go to a different store and start the search all over again.

You may not like Hot Wheels or be able to relate to the hobbies of a retired old man, but all of us are searching for something.

What are you searching for? 

Often, we don’t even know what we’re looking for, but we subconsciously seek nonetheless. We look to find the rare, the unique, or the slightly different as we accumulate the things of this world. Accumulating success, money, likes on socials, or activities on our calendar become subconscious obsessions we pursue everyday. In the looking, we long for validation, peace, love, and something more.

We move from one thing to the next, hoping eventually we’ll find the thing, person, or activity that will truly satisfy.

If we’re honest, we’d rather not be looking anymore. We’re tired. We’re running out of options and space in our closets, our calendars, and our hearts. We’re running out of hope.

What if the thing we are searching for has been with us all along? What if the person who could satisfy our longing has never left our side? We can stop searching, and instead experience peace for our souls.

In the gospel of John, Jesus refers to himself as the Bread of Life and the Living Water. He’s the One we thirst for and the Only One that can truly satisfy our hunger for more.