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. Sometimes, I get so weary of the mundane, I think I am probably not naturally responsible at heart. But I am committed and loving, and the desire to follow God well and to pursue ideals takes me a long way in this world of duty and “shoulds” and moves me forward one day at a time.
Occasionally the responsibilities overwhelm and the gypsy in me longs for adventure, beauty, wildness, wind on my face, and 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. Feelings are feelings and we all have longings in our hearts.
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, 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. 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?