longing, day 5

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more.  I am painfully conscious of my need for further grace.  I am ashamed of my lack of desire.  O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee;  I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. (The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 63

Scripture for the Day: Proverbs 13:12-25

Reading for Reflection:

In all of our hearts lies a longing for a Sacred Romance.  It will not go away in spite of our efforts over the years to anesthetize or ignore its song, or attach it to a single person or endeavor.  It is a Romance couched in mystery and set deeply within us.  It cannot be categorized into prepositional truths or fully known any more than studying the anatomy of a corpse would help us know the person who once inhabited it.

     Philosophers call this Romance, this heart yearning set within us, the longing for transcendence; the desire to be part of something larger than ourselves, to be part of something out of the ordinary that is good.  Transcendence is what we experience in a small but powerful way when our city’s football team wins the big game against tremendous odds.  The deepest part of our heart longs to be bound together in some heroic purpose with others of like mind and spirit. (The Sacred Romance by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Satisfied

All my life long I had panted
For a drink from some cool spring
That I hoped would quench the burning
Of the thirst I felt within.

Hallelujah!  He has found me
The One my soul so long has craved! 
Jesus satisfies all my longings
Through his blood I now am saved.
 
Feeding on the filth around me
‘Till my strength was almost gone. 
Longed my soul for something better
Only still to hunger on.
 
Poor I was and sought for riches
Something that would satisfy. 
But the dust I gathered ‘round me
Only mocked my soul’s sad cry.
 
Well of water ever springing
Bread of life so rich and free. 
Untold wealth that never faileth
My Redeemer is to me.
 

 

Closing Prayer:

Teach me to seek you, for I cannot seek you unless you teach me, or find you unless you show yourself to me.  Let me seek you in my desire, and desire you in my seeking.  Let me find you by loving you, let me love you when I find you.
                                                                         ~St. Anselm