Desire

I am reading a book called Desire by John Eldredge. Here are some excerpts I particularly want to remember:

"One thing I have come to embrace is this: we have to let it go. The more comfortable we are with mystery in our journey, the more rest we will know along the way."

"To wait is to learn the spiritual grace of detachment, the freedom of desire. Not the absence of desire, but desire at rest."

"I will have it in my home--in heaven. Some guy making six figures may be able to have it for a few years, but I'll have it forever."

"I believe we must add two spiritual disciplines to everyday life. The first is worship. We must adore God deliberately, regularly. The other is grief. We must allow a time for sorrow to do our own personal sowing. I see no other way to care for our hearts.

Now making time to grieve might seem strange to you. 'But I don't feel grief or sorrow at all.' Just because we do not feel it doesn't mean it is not there. Our pleasant experience may be the result of the thousand distractions that fill our waking moments."

Short phrases to awaken desire:

"The story continues. This simple statement reminds me that life is unfolding, that we are headed somewhere, that the story is moving towards its happy ending."

"It can't be done. By this I remember that I can't arrange for the life I prize...it frees my heart from the grasping and plotting and fretting over my life..."

"It is coming. ...The very thing that I am aching for now...is exactly what's coming to me...As you raise your glass of wine, toast to the banquet to come; as you see anything beautiful you'd like to have, say to yourself, 'In a little while it shall be mine forever'"


One thing I'd like to say about grief. I don't like it when people put on faces. I'd rather much be in the middle of a grieving fest than sit at a table of insincere smiles. What is so embarrassing about it? Everyone grieves. It frees the heart.

Also, I want to get better at letting go--at being at peace with the questions I have about the future. I want to be alive in the mystery. I want to wake up each morning excited that the story continues.

I also want to limit the noise in my life. Noise depresses me and chokes my desire. I find myself waiting for someone to text me or make a comment on my videos. How pathetic. So I'm removing some of my distractions. I'm cutting out two TV shows, I'm checking Facebook less, and I even turn off my phone sometimes. I'm filling this time with more prayer and creativity. I want to pray more intensely:

"While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could deliver him" (Heb 5:7 NLT)

John Eldredge made the point that few people really pray like that. Now, if I were God, I think I'd want to see passion in the way my people prayed...you know, not just knocking on the door, but POUNDING on the door. I think why Jesus prays harder than us is because he has more passion than we do.