Irreplaceable

Growing up, there was a game I did not like to play: Operation. Bleck. It had nothing to do with the fact that a chubby, cartoonish-looking man was lying on an operating table. Or the openings all over his body, with an odd assortment of bones and weird objects (like a watering pail... and a wrench. Poor guy!). The part I was terrified of was trying to remove these "ailments" with tweezers. Okay, doesn't sound all that bad, right? Wrong!! One little slip, or wobbly move, and BUZZ!!!!! The sound and vibration of an electric current would scare the living daylights out of me!!

I had a weak moment a few years back, and almost bought the game at a garage sale. It was for memory sake, which seems a silly reason to buy this particular game, since I am scared to death of it (okay, that might be a little dramatic, but still...). I opened the box, only to find it was missing a piece. I can't remember if it was the wishbone, or the pencil in his arm... but that small thing saved me from buying this nerve-wracking game. I could have probably found something that would've worked, a replacement piece that would have fit the space just enough that the game could still be played. But I'd always know in the back of my mind that the game was incomplete. It wouldn't be right. It wouldn't be the same.

Our souls are not unlike that game.We have pockets that need filled, with love from family, acceptance from others, areas that push us to grow and learn. But there's a part of our soul that cannot be filled with something else. It's stronger than all the other areas, has a longing deep within that starts when we are young. We can try to fill it, distract it, ignore it. But the longing is always there, seemingly unquenchable. Until we meet Jesus.

Only Jesus can fill that longing in our soul. No one, or any thing, can replace where He is supposed to be. When we ask Him to be our Lord and Savior, the empty part of ourselves rejoices. It welcomes Him, knowing all along it needed Him. We are no longer missing a piece of who we are. We are complete. No replacement parts for us. We have the best of the best, living within us.

"Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him."  Psalm 62:5