“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Psalm 23:1 ESV
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33 ESV
“You can never get enough of what you don’t really want.” Rick Hansen, Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things
Do you know that we give to others what we secretly want? This is unconscious and may have been born in childhood.
Do you give compliments to others and yet feel invisible?
Do you counsel others and yet are stymied by your own problems?
Do you give money yet feel poor in spirit?
Do you go the extra mile and find yourself alone for the next?
Do you companion a lonely person, perhaps your spouse, yet your soul is aching?
Do you remember desiring another and they, for lack of a better word, dumped you?
Do you fill another’s cup and painfully aware of the emptiness inside yours?
Oh the challenges of being human. More frustrating, confounding feelings! On one hand, our Father designed us with the desire to belong, to be loved, to be creative, to achieve. On the other hand, these valid feelings leave us dumbstruck and confused. Sometimes we feel we need to earn our way to your love and forget you love us first so we can desire and become your perfect will for us.
We have a Father who cares more about our character than we do. We have a Father that loves us more than we can comprehend. He wants us to love like he does, so class is in session. He brings things to our awareness so we can study and converse with him about our struggle. Then we wait. Then we grow into “becoming more like him.” Sometimes we have Aha! Moments. Sometimes we feel so divinely loved we can’t describe it. But first… The lesson. Then the revelation. Then his desire becomes our heart’s desire.
Musings
What do we really want? We desire many things and some of them are necessary and even rich—more than we can ask or think. And in our human hindsight, we see our Father was right all along. He knew more than we ever could what we really want. In the meantime, we remain open, patient and fully present.
Prayer
Dear Father,
It’s so easy to fall into desires and wants that paralyze, derail and separate. Thank you that you take us by the hand and gently lead us into your will for us. Eventually, we see your will is precisely what we desire too.
Amen.
Prayers and Musings of a Black Sheep 