So much of my life has been spent hoping for, and longing after, things the world promises it can give. Money. Attention. Better status. The material things I don’t yet possess. There seems to be no end to the appetite of the human ego—it always wants more, always wants next.
I’ve had sleepless nights worrying about bills, worrying about my children—their activities, their lifestyles, their choices—all the things that ultimately reside in God’s will, not mine. The mind spins endlessly, trapped on a hamster wheel of desire, convinced that control will somehow bring peace.
We’re all familiar with the image of the poor donkey chasing the carrot tied just out of reach. We feel sorry for the animal because we know the truth: the carrot will never be caught. What’s funny—and humbling—is when we step back and realize how often we are the donkey. We just don’t like to put ourselves in that category.
We chase the next milestone, the next accomplishment, the next validation, believing this will finally make us happy. And yet, God designed us to be happy now, not someday. Peace was never meant to be deferred.
There’s a saying often attributed to Carl Jung that suggests we find God not by striving upward, but by looking inward and downward into ourselves. While Jung never said this verbatim, his actual teaching points in the same direction—that transformation comes not through ambition or ascent, but through confronting and integrating what lies beneath the surface. As Jung famously wrote, “Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
Chasing keeps us asleep. Acceptance wakes us up.
When we do not accept, we fall victim to the restless hunger of the human condition—never satisfied, never still.
That’s why I love the story of the woman at the well. Jesus tells her about living water—water that truly satisfies, water that ends the endless thirst. Not something drawn from a bucket, not something earned or chased, but something given. Something already present.
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” — John 4:13–14
The world offers water that keeps us coming back for more. God offers water that finally lets us rest.
Maybe that’s the invitation—to stop chasing, to stop striving, and to drink deeply from what only He can give.
Closing Prayer
Loving God, quiet my restless seeking and soften my grip on what I cannot control. Help me recognize the thirst that no worldly thing can satisfy and lead me instead to the living water You freely give. Teach me to rest in Your presence, to trust Your will, and to be grateful for what is already enough. Amen.
