Longing

Hi.

I am not sure how this blog is finding you, whether you are in a positive space or not so much but I do sincerely hope it will help you thrive in life and faith. 

One of the things I have been wrestling with in my own faith and life is a deep longing for something better. I feel pressed on all sides by the demands of life and the realities of the world we live in and I cannot help but long for more and better. 

I am a follower of Jesus, a husband, a father, an entrepreneur, a writer, a South African and so much more. All of these identities or roles that I play call me into a way of living that can be challenging and at other times be the joy of my existence. I look at how many laughs and smiles I share in a lot of those spaces and I consider the tears and heartache I feel. All of these create in me a longing for better. 

Better in the sense of more whole connections, a clearer sense of purpose, a better country and world at large. I long to see more repentance, more justice and greater experiences. I long for better food and deeper conversation. I long and I long and I long. 

And it recently hit me that this longing is shared by many. Certainly by those who feel like their lives aren’t at the best place they want it to be and long for better. I see it in those who are content, they too long for better but appreciate that this longing must coincide with a gratitude for the life they live. Even those who live in perceived opulence have admitted to a sense of longing for something deeper, more intense and satisfactory. Most of humanity have a sense of longing from what I can see. 

The passage of the text that has been on my mind since this longing become more apparent to me in my current season is Matthew 6:10

‘Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’

This is a line from what has been named the Lords prayer in the sermon on the mount as Matthew records it in his writing.

I long to see the kingdom of God. His rule and reign. The essence of his being overall and in all and through all. I want to see him on his throne and experience unfettered access to him and his ways. I want to know this experience in all the areas of my life. I long to experience the justice I see written in the text. I long to see the end to suffering and pain. I long to see something better, something like Gods space breaking into our space and his will being done here like it is being done in his space.

I write this blog with those who perhaps have a longing like this one in mind. I write it to say, it is a Holy Longing to use the title of Father Rolheisers book. I think this is a great thing for us to experience and for us to pursue the kind of life and faith that leads to this deepening experience of the divine and of the world at large. I believe the holy longing can be a guiding sensation towards a living life in a more healthy manner. I believe this holy longing can be involved in assessing our priorities and shifting how we operate in areas of our control, power and will. This holy longing has the potential to lead us to love and sacrifice in ways we did know we were previously capable of. This holy longing has an immense amount of potential.

If you experience any little bit of this kind of longing. May I ask you to take it seriously, lean in and dive deep. May I ask you wrestle with it and allow it to take you on a journey. I believe the journey it can take you on is one that will help you thrive in life and faith. It is certainly doing so for me.