Desire
January 25, 2009
“The place where God calls you is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
–Frederick Buechner
This is the kind of quote that won’t let you go once it sinks in. It goes for the throat. It cuts to the quick and goes straight to the heart of your deepest desires…
And it’s a quote that gives you permission. Permission to be the person you always meant to be.
After years of doing violence to myself for the sake of success, I finally realized that my own deepest desire was simply to serve my community’s needs for beauty, inspiration, and healing–with words and music. That’s it. That’s the deep gladness in me that meets the world’s deep hunger. I would be content to stay there, to live in that mission for the rest of my life. The staggering wonder of it is that God would be content with that too. Our deepest desires, the truest things about us, are also the truest things about God. How could it be otherwise? We bear His image.
At the end of the day, all failures aside, what we really want down deep in our soul, is what He wants. Fallen or not, we are stamped with His image and His desires. And salvation is nothing more and nothing less than the process of restoring the heart, so it can recognize itself, its origin, in Jesus. ”I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10.
Run a diagnostic test on yourself. What are your deepest desires? You may find that you have been too wounded to look at them squarely. You’ve been told too often that you have nothing to offer. That’s OK. If the Enemy has been doing his job in your life–and he has–then you will certainly be too wounded to look at your wounds and desires alone. Pray. Ask God to go with you into those wounds and beyond them to the desires they hide. And take a few trusted friends with you, a band of brothers, a band of sisters. You will need allies.
You must find your deepest desires and bring them up for air. They are the fingerprints of God on your soul, your first clue to His will for your life. Do not ignore your heart; it is the only place where God can reach you.
If you enjoyed this post, be sure to read the rest from this author. Marc is a local writer, musician, and physician. He is a regular contributor to ConneXions and has written reviews for Spectrum: Adventist Forum. He loves words and music, windsurfing, and going on adventures with Janine and the kids.(Read more from this author) 
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“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” 1 Peter 4:10. This year I have given myself permission to pursue my photography. I realize now that it is my way of capturing the beauty that is all around me and it is a gift that I can share with my family and friends. This verse has new meaning for me now: “The eye is the lamp of the body. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.” Matthew 6:22 : )