The Journey of Desire

Spiritual desire, I read somewhere is the deepest dynamic of the spiritual life. It is a catalyst, a motivator for a life lived with intentionality and focus on God.

"The more authentic our desires, the more they touch upon our identities and also upon the reality of God at the heart of our being. Our most authentic desires spring ultimately from the deep inner wells where the longing for God runs freely." (Phillip Sheldrake)

I am truly grateful that the Lord graciously led me, without my knowing much about it, towards a journey of desire. This was long before I read about these topics in spirituality books. I just knew, after being freed from the bondages of the past that I wanted to know and love God more. There was so much I didn't understand, so much about the Lord that stirred my deepest feelings. Without this desire I might have settled for less.....for the life of dutiful service, doing out of obligation. That's better than nothing. But Christians who merely settle for dutiful and obligated service may one day look back and wonder why they are doing what they are doing. Or they might silence the call of the deep longings by more and more dutiful service, leading to burnout.

"We are spiritually hungry. So we hop from one thing to another, trying to find some kind of convenience food for the soul in hopes of alleviating the surface hunger pangs. To satisfy our hunger we serve more, take part in more committees, attend one seminar after another, never realizing that without being deeply nourished by the Lord, our busyness comes out from an empty shell."

"The sea lion loved his rock, and he even loved waiting night after night for the sea breezes that might come. Especially he loved the dreams those memories would stir. But as you well know, even the best of dreams cannot go on, and in the morning when the sea lion woke, he was still in the barren lands. Sometimes he would close his eyes and try to fall back asleep. It never seemed to work, for the sun was always very bright. Eventually, it became too much for him to bear. He began to visit his rock only on occasion. "I have too much to do, " he told himself. "I cannot waste my time just idling about." He really did not have so much to do. The truth of it was, waking so far from home was such a disappointment, he did not want to have those wonderful dreams anymore. The day finally came when he stopped going to his rock altogether, and he no longer lifted his nose to the wind when the sea breezes blew."

(John Eldredge: The Journey of Desire)