Dear Friends,

I am often struck by the role that longing plays in life. We are often shaped by those things for which we yearn. Our deepest desires rightly change over time and what we longed for as children is likely very different from what we wanted as young adults, or in middle age, or as we started our families. Still, to be fully alive is to have yearnings and longings that pull at us, that can make our hearts fairly ache.

The Psalmist gave voice to this in Psalm 42. "As a deer longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say continually to me, ‘Where is your God?'" The Psalmist longs for what he knows only God can provide.

Wouldn't it be a perfect world in which all our longings were recognized as our yearning for God? As it is, we all find ourselves challenged, stretched and even haunted by the longings and yearnings that fill our hearts.

Ponder these words, and allow God to speak to you through your own longings. And let the poet, John Greenleaf Whittier, close these thoughts. "Breathe through the heats of our desire, Thy coolness and Thy balm; Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire; Speak through the earthquake, wind and fire, O still, small voice of calm!"

May you continue to bask in God's love during this Lenten Season.

Peace,

Pete