Soul Needs and Strip Mall Stuff

I have a funny habit. I like to sit down like a toddler with a pair of scissors and a pile of magazines and cut them up. I cut out pretty pictures I like and any words or phrases that capture my fancy. I don't pause to analyze my reasons for liking them or how they could be used. I put my scraps away for a few days or a few weeks. Some day when I have the time I pull them back out, arrange the clippings into a collage, and stick them in my journal. It is fun for me to see how the pictures and words can be scattered across a page to express the current state of my heart and spirit.

Cutting and pasting is slower than scribbling a few sentences in my journal, so I always wind up feeling like I have spent an hour playing. I think the leisurely pace of this activity is one of the things that draws me back to it. Like most Americans my life often flies too fast.

Epiphany
Today as I indulged in this guilty pleasure I was struck by something. I finished taping down "start your journey" and "discover strength", and was looking for places to put "bountiful" and "inspired" when I had my little epiphany. The words and phrases were cut out from ads peddling everything from menopause medication to rental car agencies. But, the longings they were promising to fill were much more significant.


The ads were promising to fill soul needs with strip mall stuff. In a way it makes sense. We people are remarkably persistent. Like too-small fish, we continue to bite the hooks, hoping that this time we will swim away satisfied instead of being reeled in again. 

It will never work. Soul needs can only be satisfied by soul food.