Draft series: 7th grade stalker

Draft date :11/8/2016

I was stalked... for a little while in 7th grade. Okay, maybe stalked is too serious of a term to call it, since the boy and I attended the same school, but, well...I felt stalked. You see, I didn't know this young man. All I remember is that he saw me at some point, and decided he wanted to get to know me. My middle school had a special building for the magnet students (BEAT Kids...don't let me get started on that), and it was on the other side of the school from where the other students were located. I don't remember the specifics of how often he followed me, but I remember a specific day when I was picked up late.

Most my friends had already left and I was still waiting to be picked up. And guess who appears? Yup, him. The young man who has been randomly popping up in places that I was. And so, having encountered me alone, with no one around. He finally asked the question he wanted to ask:

"Can I enjoy you?"

That was his question, guys. Now, if I wasn't weird-ed out before, I DEFINITELY was on edge after having a total stranger ask me if he could...enjoy me...not enjoy my company, not enjoy a conversation WITH me...enjoy...me.WHAT? So, how did I respond?

"Excuse me? Can you enjoy me? What do you think I am? Some kind of food, some kind of desert? What kind of question is that?"

I could clearly tell he was offended with my response...and in typical Diana fashion, I felt bad for my response to him. So I tried to make small talk about...the school bus. Needless to say, that was the end of the stalking.

This memory came to my mind earlier today. I still wonder where he got the question "Can I enjoy you?" from. But, maybe he was on to something, in the sense that we are all seeking and craving something to satisfy us, someone to satiate our deepest longings and  hunger. We were made to savor and enjoy Jesus. The word of God says " Oh taste and see that the Lord is good". Tasting and seeing has so much to do with our senses. The things, or people that we tend to enjoy most are the ones that engage our beings totally.

I mean, think about it. Drugs, sex, music, food, entertainment, nature, etc, all appeal and arouse some aspect of our senses at some level or another. And yet, when not enjoyed in the right context, these can bring utter destruction to our beings. *Yes,I believe there is a proper legal medicinal context for certain drugs.*

As I thought about the concept of Christian hedonism- fancy word for "pleasure seeking", I realized that I seldom truly grasp the magnitude of that reality. I was created to enjoy JESUS.... forever. Yet, I still find myself looking to other things and other people for ultimate fulfillment, and that's a problem.

So for anyone who wrestles with this as much as I do. My prayer is that we will begin to taste and see the goodness of our God. May we be reminded of His amazing love, and may or hearts burst forth with worship to Him. May His Word be what we desire in order to know Him, and may we walk in obedience, even when it is difficult. May we not fall prey to the ideology that He is a means to an end of material blessing. Surely if He is a means to an end, may we be reminded that He is the END. He is the Omega. For from Him, and through Him, and to Him flows all things.

I love how the Holy Spirit can use everything to point us to Jesus, even the memory an awkward question asked by a "7th grade stalker".