Leah

I listened to this brilliant sermon by Tim Keller on Leah, wife of Jacob, "The Girl Nobody Loved." One of his points (and one he admitted that he wished were different) was that we're all looking for Rachel, like Jacob, and we all wake up to Leah in the morning. We look for jobs and houses and families and a gerneral sense of security, looking for Rachel but they're all Leah in the morning. She's inescapable. What you look for is not what you get, upon inspection. This means two things, possibly more: we're not made for this world as it is, and this world is incapable of satisfying us, if we're honest with ourselves. This is freeing, in fact, rather than utterly depressing. Dissatisfaction is realistic, and things of this world need not be utterly satisfying. We need not lean on them so hard, nor be so disappointed when they fail. We have Someone much greater, not of this world, who is faithful and does satisfy and will ultimately satisfy completely.

This is a hard thing to remember in the face of a very uncertain future and a deeply frustrating present, but it is true. My issue is my tendency to rest my hopes on this new job (potentially) or this new trip away from Memphis, on this new set of friends. They will be Leah in the morning. This present disappointment is an opportunity to see Him do something--in my situation, in me, in others. May my eyes be open for it.