"Now thus says the LORD of hosts:
Consider your ways!
You have sown much, but have brought in little;
you have eaten, but have not been satisfied;
You have drunk, but have not been exhilarated;
have clothed yourselves, but not been warmed;
And whoever earned wages
earned them for a bag with holes in it." -Haggai 1:5-6
Thursday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
I think that we can all relate to this reading from the Old Testament. Sometimes it seems like whatever we do, it's not enough. We work hard and put in our best effort to improve our lives or get something accomplished and then at the end it all falls to pieces.
Sometimes it does work out and we can all relate to "Hannibal" from the A-Team. We pat ourselves on the back and say, "I love it when a plan comes together." We get everything we worked for, all that we wanted and yet once the newness wears off and that becomes our everyday, we see something else that might just be better. We see something that may just be more shiny; or grass that just might be a little greener.
This is exactly what this passage is trying to drive home. We have achieved all of these things, we have taken care of our worldly needs, but it will never be enough. Whether we just need another mountain to conquer, or we try to keep up with the rest of the neighborhood, or we find validation and identity in our job, or even if it's as simple as just having a need to acquire more 'things', we will never find true satisfaction.
I know what you're thinking; "wow man, you're really bumming me out."
Well, it's okay because even though life is a test that none of us studied for, as I have said before, it's an open book test and God wrote the manual. The answer comes in the next lines.
"Thus says the LORD of hosts:
Consider your ways!
Go up into the hill country;
bring timber, and build the house
That I may take pleasure in it
and receive my glory, says the LORD." -Haggai 1:7-8
"build the house That I may take pleasure in it and receive my glory"?!?! Hold on, that sounds pretty egotistical of God, doesn't it?
Well, if you think of God as some great scorekeeper in the sky keeping tabs on who loves Him more this week and plotting revenge on those who slight Him then this might make sense to you. But we know that's not who God is. He is the good shepherd, He is the Bread of Life, He is our Heavenly Father. His will for us is that we have life and have it abundantly. He wants us to be filled with joy!
We can feed ourselves the richest foods and we will still hunger. We can drink the finest wine and still not be filled with joy. We can 'have it all' by worldly standards and be poverty stricken in our hearts. As long as we measure by the world's tape measure (and other people's Facebook posts) we will always have some amount of emptiness.
The only thing that can begin to satisfy our hunger is the Bread of Life. The only thing that can begin to fill our emptiness is love, and when we start to see ourselves through the eyes of the loving Heavenly Father, we start to feel His love for us. Did I mention that He is also Love? Not only is He Love, He is perfect Love. And only Perfect Love will ever be able to completely fill that emptiness, and when the emptiness is gone, then we will be filled with joy.
God Bless,
P.D.O.
