Why Our Diamonds Still Look Rough

I have noticed a trend in today's culture of attempting to assign more depth or meaning to any given thing than that thing inherently has. Whether it's the romance in a relationship, the beauty of creation, the thrill of travel, etc., humankind has overemphasized the ability of external things to fulfill inward longings. We, as a species, do this in our pursuit of the ever elusive "more." We desire a deeper plane of life, experience, and feeling and hope to find it in the imagery set before us. 

While life is beautiful, and its experiences are meant to be soaked up and enjoyed thoroughly, I find it selfish that we ask something incredible to be more incredible just because we need it to be. To clarify, we ask something that is already beautiful and valuable in its own right to satisfy a part of us it is incapable of satisfying. 

We all have a deep need that must be satiated before we can fully appreciate the various wonders, complexities, and beauties of life. It cannot be the other way around. It won't be appreciating life that satisfies our souls; it will be the satisfaction of our souls that enables us to appreciate life. God designed us with a deeper need for Him that, if left unmet, will permanently skew our view of all He has made. And no matter how hard we try to assign a little more "magic" here or there, we will never discover what we are looking for. It is this mindset that leads to brokenness in our selves, our relationships, and our worldviews. 

The saddest thing is that, when we ask creation to meet a need that Creator is supposed to meet, we strip creation and Creator of their value in our minds because we have attempted to redefine their job descriptions. It's like asking a tree to bark like a dog or a cow to yield human children. While a tree has bark, it won't be emulating schnauzer noises any time soon. And while a cow is a mammal, we won't be awaiting the sonogram results to find out whether this precious new addition to our world will be Bos taurus or Homo sapien. Both a tree and a cow excel at what they were created to do, but they will be terribly under-appreciated if we expect them to fulfill needs they weren't designed to meet. 

This kind of thinking has cost so many people the warm company of other human beings and the gracious peace of God. It damages our capacity to enjoy the universe God has made. And at the end of this philosophical track, we are still not satisfied.

I implore you, readers, to let God fill that indescribable need for "more" inside of you. Then, and only then, will you be able to appreciate all that He has made for what it is, not for what you want it to be. When we fix the inside, the gems we are fortunate enough to adorn our hearts and enrich our lives with will have perfectly crafted settings. That kind of beauty needs noting extra.