Recently, I was asked to speak at a career day for a group of Kindergarteners. I must have been either having a weak moment or smoking some cheap drugs when I agreed, but agree I did. I am no public speaker – it actually terrifies me. But, branching out – right? It’s been a long time since I’ve been up in front of a group, but I’m used to being around kids anyway so of course they were the best audience I could have asked for.

Since it was career day, several of them had dressed up for the occasion. One little girl was a “veterinarian” complete with scrubs and a stethoscope (“It really works!”) She leaned up on her tiptoes and put the round metal disc to my heart. Her little face scrunched together and her bright blue eyes got very serious. She took the stethoscope away and said very matter-of-factly, “You’re hungry!”, and walked away.

We all have hungry hearts. Hunger for love, hunger for safety, hunger to be needed, hunger for friendship, hunger to be understood… An empty feeling we are needing to be filled. We need that emptiness to be filled – just like our stomachs alert us we are hungry, so do our hearts. And, much like filling our stomachs with either a Big Mac or a salad we have choices on what we fill that emptiness with.

Filling our hearts isn’t as simple as opening a bag of lettuce or going through a drive-thru, but we do and can easily find “drive-thru” solutions to temporary fill the hunger in our hearts. We can fill that hole with damaging relationships, with food and alcohol, with surrounding ourselves with people who don’t want the best for us or influence us in negative ways. We can fill it with drugs or even sleep. These are all temporary fixes.

The only way to fill our hungry hearts is with long term and loving relationships, with delicate care to our heart and mindfulness to protect it but also leaving it open enough to give and receive love and to surround ourselves with like minded people who push us to be better. But, the most lasting way to fill our hearts so they are never hungry again is with the love of our Heavenly Father.

Maybe you feel discarded. Abandoned. Even untouchable. Maybe you have made decisions or choices you wish you could take back. Maybe you blame yourself for life’s unforeseen circumstances. Maybe you have been hurt. Maybe you feel like you’re not enough. You are not unworthy. You are a special creation. You have immense value. You possess characteristics and traits that are unique to you. You have gifts to share with those around you. You are a gift to your family and your friends. You are worthy of love. You are worthy of forgiveness and worthy of a second chance. We all are.

Sometimes, we may not receive forgiveness or love from our human peers. We may feel rejected. We become frustrated and restless. This is a part of life. We ache for acceptance and love and too often, we find it fleeting. Our Heavenly Father loves us and forgives us. Continually. Everyday. For ever misstep, for every moment of regret… He forgives us. His grace is sufficient. His love is sufficient. He will never leave us or forsake us. No matter how bad we screw up He will never let us stay in the dirt alone. He will pull us up and put His arms around us and walk us home. No matter how dark the valley gets He is there.

He knows each one of our heart’s individual hungers and if we would just open our hands and let Him (yes, let) take care of us, our hearts will never be hungry again. We may yearn for earthly things but God knows each need, want and desire and He promises us that He will give us the desires of our heart. If we will only let Him.

I’ll leave you with some lines from the song “Restless” by Audrey Assad

“In between our frailty and everything You are
You are the keeper of my heart

And I’m restless, I’m restless
‘Til I rest in You, ’til I rest in You
I am restless, I’m restless
‘Til I rest in You, ’til I rest in You
Oh God, I wanna rest in You”

until next time… xoxo, patty lauren