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April 7, 2008
Longing
I was talking with a friend today about longing for things to be made right in this world being overwhelmed by how broken this world is. At times I am so overcome with grief at the amount of sin in this world… child sex trafficking, spouse abuse, people forced to live in inhumane conditions, starvation,... the list continues… this includes being overwhelmed with my own sin and God’s call to be salt and light in this dark world.
I realize I tend toward the pride of having a “savior” mentality and trying to fix the world on my own. In Sunday school this a.m. we were discussing focusing on being in a community of Christians. Sometimes I can feel isolated, even though I’m part of an amazing community, and feel like I have to live this life on my own.
So, yes, this intense longing- this world is screw up and I often lose the fact that God knows this and is here. I need help to see how He is at work in the world. Father, open my eyes! I cannot always see! I can get so focused on my on imperfections and then mad at myself for not trusting that that is exactly why Jesus came! He came for me, a fumbling, wandering sheep. Sheep---hmm… not many sheep in our STL area- I’m trying to think of an animal that would fit better into our context. Any ideas?
Anyway, as I was cooking for the week I read a little of a book Neil lent to me: “Readings for Meditation and Reflection” from C.S. Lewis.
This is actually from "Mere Christianity" and discusses how we are to respond to how we deal with our longings.
Lewis says, “Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A ducking wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find myself a desire which no experience in this words can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it but only to arouse it, to suggest the read thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one had, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.”
| By Miss Mark | 12:16 AM