Death by Chocolate

Pastor Phil wrote an article for the "Canadian Mennonite" magazine that was published on this site: http://christianity.ca/faith/faith-and-thought/2006/11.001.html It is a very interesting article on a topic that has been a constant struggle for me throughout my life. The title of the article is: "The Problem with Pleasure". He says "Our lives are swollen with a myriad of trivial pursuits and possessions while being incapable of investing in the very things we long for the most - meaningful relationships" (Phil Wagler).

While in Colombia, one of the things that stood out the most to me was that the people there didn't have all of the excess 'stuff' that we have here in our Western Culture. Despite that fact (or maybe because of it), they seem so much more fulfilled and at peace. Of course this is a generalization, there is a lot of turmoil in Colombia and I'm not discounting that at all, but generally, the people there seem more content, fulfilled and happy than most people I come in contact with here in Canada. Being at church the first Sunday after I'd come home was tough. The message was wonderful, and it was great to see my friends again, but during the singing I was yearning to clap and dance, but no one in the entire (FULL) sanctuary was doing that. In fact there were few people that even had a smile on their faces. I am convinced that one of the reasons why we find it much harder to have a close personal relationship with Christ here is that we feel that we don't need Him. After all, we have all of our basic needs met...and then some (herein lies the problem). We are created with a whole in our hearts that only God can fill. We try to fill that empty space with everything imaginable (even cars that can save your soul...see above article). We will find, time after time, that nothing on earth can ever fill that void. God planned it that way. I accepted Christ into my life at the age of 7, yet time after time I've fogotten about God in the business of life, and I've tried to make it through life on my own, only to be left feeling empty and sad. To quote Phil from his article, "We've been there, done that, and still can't find what we're looking for. We are masters of pain management, yet are drowning in the mire of our abundant pleasures". We are dying a 'death by chocolate', filling our lives with meaningless garbage and only being left unfulfilled.

So this Christmas season, let's keep our eyes on what truly matters, the only gift that truly fills our aching and lonely hearts...that Baby in the manger.

God bless,

Melanie