You know that feeling when you are hungry, I mean really hungry. It is as though you could chew through the walls just to eat something. Most people do not fast, let alone miss a meal, but there are people who are so busy they forget to eat. Hunger is a force that drives us to get what we need which in many cases is food. There is an internal mechanism that says, I am hungry inside of us and we answer its call by going into a drive through, throwing something into the microwave or preheating the oven for. Our natural hunger for food is satisfied with putting something in our mouth. Most of us do not need anyone else to satisfy our hunger for food, so we just eat when we are hungry.
There is another hunger in us that needs other people and God to satisfy. People are manifesting their hunger, but most people do not see or can not hear the cry of a hungry person. It is not because we are deaf to their cry, it is because they are not speaking it out, they are acting it out. I was with some friends yesterday shopping and while walking around the mall I could see the hunger for attention coming from people. They were not hungry for physical food, they were hungry for attention. Hungry for people to enjoy what they enjoy, hear what they were saying, take an interest in what interested them. The hunger for attention was obvious to me and all they wanted was some focused attention.
When people are hungry for love, attention, time, touch, whatever it may be they act differently that they are designed to because they are hungry. Think about when you are physically hungry how your attitude changes, your energy wanes, your thoughts wander. The same is true for people who are hungry for time, touch, talk, attention, they act not according to design, but from a place of being hungry. When they are fed they smile big smiles, laugh, play, enjoy life, respect people and obey instructions. It is amazing to me how many times we have used behavior modification techniques when people were just trying to tell us they are hungry and we had the food they needed.
Church may we be the people who are connected to abundance so when we are doing life with hungry people we are not distracted by behavior but feed the hungry soul. They may need attention, time, physical touch or someone that enjoys them. It is amazing how something so simple can take a hungry person and fill them up in a way nothing else can. As we tap into the unlimited resources of God’s love we become distributors of that love to others who are hungry in ways they can not communicate but desperately want us to see.
Lisa Great 