When all things conspire to increase longing

Tranquility has to come from beneath the surface.

Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal! wrote Longfellow is his poem, A Psalm of Life. We all know that, but sometimes we do let life get us down.  We all have times when we are dissatisfied with how things are, and seek for something different, something better. It is possible for dissatisfaction to imprison our spirits and deflate our dreams.

Bernard Bro's book Happy Those Who Believe, directly addresses this situation:

Consider Zacchaeus, who struggled against the prison of his conscious; Mary Magdalene and the Samaritan woman, who struggled against the prison of their heart...All sensed a call. They were in a state of dissatisfaction...we would never have dared to imagine these preparatory cries of the Old Testament when God said to Daniel: "I came to you because you were a man of desire." And in Jeremiah: "I will put them in anguish so that they may find me."  

I think the key here may be desire. Life can weigh down on us, it can threaten to crush us, it can take away the sparkle we once had in believing all things are possible. As we mature, we sometimes begin to think that past dreams were childish, and we put them aside. We begin to accept fate as inevitable, and life as a series of unavoidable events. It is as though we our journey in life got a flat tire, and we became content to drive through life on the rim. But we shouldn't.

That is why it is important to dig deeper, to find the meaning hidden in the event, be it pleasant or otherwise. If I live a deeper spiritual life, I will find the gift hidden in circumstance, I will not become a fatalist. Instead, I will see the lesson I am meant to learn, and in that very lesson, I will find God.

Part of believing is remembering that I am called. I have a mission, and despite all the chaos, I will discover it. So I must never settle for that flat tire. I must change it and move on. I can believe so as to show the world that all things can conspire to increase longing, that my dissatisfaction itself signals there is more to be had, and I will have it. Then dissatisfaction will work in my favor; and I will find, even in the midst of chaos, something of my dreams.

Getting your heart's desire

Finding your heart's desire is a life-long journey

 The psalmist says, "Trust in the Lord and do good. And he will grant you your heart's desire." (37)  This begs a question: do we really know what is our heart's desire? I think not. And I think that the search to find that desire is at the core of what drives our spiritual search in life.

It is the search to find that desire that pushes us to go beyond our comfort zone, take risks, dare to continue dreaming and never give up hope. It is the drive that keeps us dreaming our dreams. It is the fuel that does not let us be content with what is, but pushes us to continue to believe in the what if?


I truly believe that it is the search to find our heart's desire that is the pearl of great price, the treasure hidden in the field, the big catch at the wrong time of day that threatens to sink our little boat of "what is". It reminds us that our life is a journey, and that we should never stop seeking. It keeps us alive and energized, seeking truth and willing to make mistakes in our efforts to discover. The search is what deepens us as persons, and broadens us as spiritual beings. And just as the Divine Being is never done with creation, but continues to draw new out of old, so should we be.

For living life as a continued search requires trusting in the Lord. As as the psalm says, we will be granted our heart's desire.

Become a Visionary

Dreamers. They don’t see life or the world the way other people see it. They live on a different level, a different plane. Their lives are perceived full of opportunities, not obstacles. And no obstacle stays an obstacle for long, because they invariable find a way to change it into a stepping stone. For them, nothing has to be permanent because all things can be transformed.

Hans Selye is quoted as saying realistic people with practical aims are rarely as realistic and practical in the long run of things as the dreamers who pursue their dreams.

Dreamers are visionaries. It’s no wonder scripture is full of men and women who dreamed dreams.  These were the individuals who ventured forth to change nations, challenge kings, and lead a people into a land not their own.

Dream a dream today.Let it take you aloft to new heights and change your view of the world, of life, of yourself.

Dreamers Pursuing their Dreams

We read in scripture that the Joseph of the Old Testament was quite the dreamer. His dreams did not just humor him; they predicted his future. Joseph of the New Testament dreamed as well. His dreams often answered the nagging questions in his heart. Both Josephs discerned their dreams, and listened to them. Through belief, they came to see the dreams come true.

Hans Selye is quoted as saying realistic people with practical aims are rarely as realistic and practical in the long run of things as the dreamers who pursue their dreams.

If the Gospels has anything to teach us, it is to believe. And part of believing comes through being able to dream...of what could be, of what we are meant to be, of where life can take us. Dreams can be the doorways to wonderful changes in our lives, to great events, to important opportunities, to new levels. We obtain only what we work for. And we work for what we believe in. Do we look at the future in unrealistic terms? Or are our dreams based on present day realities? To live the dream requires stepping forward and risking. We can't sit back and just wish.

What are your dreams? More importantly, what are you doing to make them come true?