Dear Daughters, When Enough Is Never Enough

Dear Daughters,

Every day, you ask for and desire so much.

I'll be honest. Sometimes I've had to tell you, more than once, to stop asking.

If your Momma and I tried to satisfy every desire you had as children, we would have spoiled you. We wouldn't have taught you how to restrain your desires or how to be content with what you have.

It isn't reasonable to expect someone to fulfill every desire that enters your heart. Nor is it wise.

But I think this points us to an obvious truth about ourselves.

We are never satisfied.

We are prone to restlessness, always searching for that thing that will finally make us say, "Yes, I can stop now. I'm good."

Yet, somehow, it never seems to come.

We buy things. We go on trips. We enter new relationships. We make more money. We pursue better careers.

And yet, it isn't enough.

I've seen adults who were given nearly everything they wanted as children struggle when they discovered that reality places limits on their desires.

But don't get me wrong. This isn't simply a problem for people who were spoiled as children.

There are people in this world who have the money to buy almost anything they want. People who have accomplished things that others can only dream of.

And yet, isn't it fascinating that people we might expect to be completely satisfied often aren't?

Enough is never enough.

We want more.

We crave it.

Why is that?

Well, I want you to understand something. The Bible doesn't teach us that having desires is necessarily a bad thing.

The ability to desire, to enjoy, and to long for something good is a gift from God.

But not every desire is good, and even good things can become problems when we look to them for something they were never meant to give us.

Ultimately, our greatest desire ought to be for God Himself.

Psalm 63 is a wonderful testament to this.

David speaks of longing for God with such intensity that he describes his soul as thirsting for Him.

Think about that for a moment.

Thirsting.

I remember the many times I've taken you girls to the park on a hot day and forgotten your water bottles.

Papa fail.

You weren't able to play or enjoy yourselves because you were so thirsty.

There were toys, games, and all sorts of playground equipment around you. Things that would ordinarily have captured your attention immediately.

But none of it interested you.

You wanted water.

The desire for water was so great that it overpowered practically every other desire you had at that moment.

And it would take nothing less than satisfying that thirst before you could enjoy anything else.

Girls, I want you to think about that when you read Psalm 63.

What if we desired God the way a thirsty person desires water?

What if everything else became secondary to knowing Him?

David understood something that I hope you will come to understand as well.

God is not simply another thing to add to the long list of things we want.

He is the One in whom our deepest longings find their satisfaction.

He wants us to seek Him like treasure, because He alone can give us what the world cannot.

Augustine, a great Christian theologian who lived more than sixteen hundred years ago, wrote something that has stayed with Christians ever since.

He said that our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God.

I think he understood our problem rather well.

We search, we acquire, we accomplish, and then we search some more.

And sometimes we exhaust ourselves chasing things that cannot ultimately satisfy us.

Now, I don't want you to misunderstand me.

There is nothing wrong with enjoying the things God has given us. Enjoy your family. Enjoy your work. Travel. Laugh. Make memories.

These are good gifts.

But remember that they are gifts, not the Giver.

Don't ask them to satisfy a longing that only God can fulfill.

And don't spend your lives endlessly chasing the next thing, believing that happiness is always just one more accomplishment or purchase away.

My dear girls, I pray that God awakens your hearts to understand this.

I love you, and I want good things for each of you.

But I don't pray that you receive every desire of your hearts.

Rather, I pray that your hearts will come to desire what is truly good.

I pray that you will come to know the glory, goodness, and love of the God of heaven and earth.

And that in knowing Him, you will find the satisfaction you've been searching for.

Your Papa loves you.