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TITLE: Satisfied | Previous Challenge Entry
By Julie Gregory
06/10/09
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“I’m hooongryyy!” my student cried out several times every day. This sweet little boy was difficult to ignore. He was a 6th grader who was born with some severe health problems. He was at least a foot shorter than his classmates and only weighed about 65 pounds. Peter may have been small but he certainly made his presence known.

I taught Peter right before lunch so his cries for food were more frequent in my class than in those earlier in the day. I would offer him crackers but no matter what was offered or how much he ate, Peter was never satisfied. Several times I would be walking in the hallway behind Peter as he was leaving the cafeteria and I would hear him scream down the hallway, “I’m hooongryyy!” Seriously?! He had just eaten lunch and was still making it known that he was hungry.

I taught him again in the 8th grade. He may have grown an inch and gained about 10 pounds over the previous two years but he was still much smaller than the other students. This small boy with all of his health problems had become addicted to smoking. My heart would break when I would look at this small child and see how he would fill his body with anything just trying to find satisfaction. I’ve thought about Peter many times over the years. Peter filled his stomach and his life with many things that would never satisfy.

And it is when I look at Peter that I realize how much my own life is like his. I feel a void in my life so I search for what I can fill it with. Maybe money or perhaps friends will satisfy me. Surely I will be happy with my dream job, a husband and children, and a beautiful home. Yet I’ve come to discover that jobs can be lost, friends move away, things break, houses get run down, and families can disappoint. Each of these things will fill me for a moment, but just like Peter, I will walk away still crying out that I’m hungry.

There is only One who can truly fill my longings, only One who can satisfy my emptiness. And it is often in my pursuit of things that never satisfy that I realize my need for a Savior. I realize that I’m inadequate to meet my needs. My own strength and power leaves me empty. But I also know that living within in me is the Bread of Life and the Living Water. I have been filled to overflowing and the times that I feel empty are the times that I rely on me instead of on God. When I hunger or thirst it is because I choose not to believe that I have been filled. I choose today to believe that I am satisfied, that the Creator of the universe has met my every need, that I am full and never have to be empty again.

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