Grandville Redmond
If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” C. S. Lewis
I am a restless sort. I am probably not responsible at heart. Committed and loving, and that takes me a long way in this world of duty and shoulds,
But, occasionally the responsibilities overwhelm and the gypsy in me longs for adventure, beauty, wildness, wind on my face, escape from all that is mundane,
maybe sitting on a beach in the dark of night listening to the waves crashing and splashing on the shore
or watching the night stars on a clear moonlit night in the cool of the mountains, and a longing that won’t go away
a longing for something I cannot exactly define,
fills my heart with yearning.
Loving and serving those in my life is not compromised when I feel that “longing” for a place that is not this place, no matter how beautiful and lovely this place is.
This world gives shadows of what we were meant to know, but as Paul says, “we see in a mirror dimly.”
Is your life ever quiet enough to sense the longing for the place He is preparing, but sensing that this is not quite it?
God would not have us feel guilty for the truth of those places in our hearts where mystery swirls and sways with no defining places, no neatly wrapped package with all the answers tied up. Faith is a willingness to be in the tension of the place with no answers, and yet saying in our heart, “I will hold fast even when I don’t see or know.”
Eternity in our souls–it was placed there by Him, the Creator; we were made for another world. Because He never wanted us to love this world that will pass away, to be so rooted here that we didn’t want to leave–
but to remember what He said,
“My kingdom is not of this world.”
Do you ever feel that longing and ache for what is not here but will be?
Oh, I love this Sally! I so resonate with everything you describe here and your words encourage me!
This post reminds me of the song that has this line “Take this world and give me Jesus, this is not where I belong”. I don’t know what the title is or who sings it, but every time I hear it I long for heaven!
Oh my, YES!
Ah yes! Thank you for the gift of theses lines, Sally. “God would not have us feel guilty for the truth of those places in our hearts where mystery swirls and sways with no defining places, no neatly wrapped package with all the answers tied up.”
Just last week I posted on the comments page of dear Elizabeth Foss’ blog –
“Maybe we are all just longing for final home…Eden’s whole and holy relationships, and its tasks of naming and nurturing – without the Fall’s labour and sorrow.”
The tension comes in the longing for what is not yet, and the learning with Paul, to be content in all circumstances. Perhaps that is where Ann Voskamp’s ‘gratitude journaling ‘giving thanks for all the gifts’ resonates with so many – it’s not a denial of our heart’s longings ,but a way of resisting the temptation to lose contentment.
I have read of how so many long for another place, and though I am awaiting our eternal home, I don’t get that ‘feeling’. I don’t always knw how to grasp the ideas of the unseen but do believe. It’s always made me uneasy. Then I read this and felt the feeling. I finally related. Not sure when it started but I understood the feeling. Except, it had everything to do with the church specifically.
We are struggling as a family in identifying with the ‘organization’ the church has become. We want to identify and function with the church, Jesus’ body. But the organization it has become has allowed much. Without getting into all of why we are uncomfortable with the changes in the way the church meets…reading this post brought peace for the first time in the last few years of tension. We cannot find perfection here. And,
“Faith is a willingness to be in the tension of the place with no answers, and yet saying in our heart, “I will hold fast even when I don’t see or know.”
Maybe this is the way God would have me realize this world is not my home. It still leaves the struggle…where to go to church, who do we identify with, etc. etc. And maybe one day we will have more clarity and peace. But there is peace knowing we can continue what we do know is good in faith and know the longing we have…is somewhere. If it can be shared, I so desire to know who you identify with, as a church body/organization.
Thank you for the beautiful message. What peace it has brought me amidst the uncertainty.
The longing within my heart for heaven is prevalent as I enjoy the richest of blessings in my sweet family and even greater as I endure the aches and weariness of my body and finances and trials of living with myself and every other sinner near me. Running away to a “quiet place” is a constant desire that floods my soul during this season of adjustments in disease and weariness of life. I’m thankful for His indwelling Spirit that gives us glimpses of glory and beauty regularly through our days. I’m thankful for His love He so richly lavishes on me in the mundane and for the Hope of heaven that keeps me pressing on!