As a preface to the quote for this week, I wanted to give a little background as to why it is especially poignant for me today. Many of you know that I have been on the job hunt for the last several months. Last week I applied to a job at a more rural hospital, and it really seemed like a great opportunity. AND it seemed like I perhaps had a chance! So, this morning I wrote a personal “thank you” note to the Human Resources people, and Derek and I drove on down there for me to hand-deliver it to them.
Earlier in the morning, while I was praying and reading my Bible, I thanked the Lord for all that He has taught me through this job search (150-200 applications to hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, assisted living, and home care). Yet…yet I still want a job! At this point in the process, though I have learned to rely on the Lord, I am still tempted to find satisfaction, joy, fulfillment in getting a job. That was when this quote came to mind:
“If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” -C.S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory” (emphasis added)
Well, as of right now, I still don’t have a job, and I haven’t heard anything from the hospital I visited this morning. Yet…yet I want to be pleased in my Lord and not the outcome of a job application.
Derek and Kristin Dearth 