Longings.

Do you long for the day when political parties are really parties? With cake? And ice cream?

Do you long for the day, back when a child's birthday party was just the biggest event in the world?

Do you long for times ago, or times ahead?

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Reading Mitch Albom's THE TIMEKEEPER, it's an interesting reflection on how we spend so much of our lives wishing for things that aren't, or can't, or mayhaps will be...but, we don't do a good job of being in the here and now.

A good writer captures that sense of yearning, a sense that seems to be pretty much universal, IMHO. Is there something innate in all of us, a yearning for the divine, a "God-shaped hole" that we (sadly) try to fill with everything apart from the one peg that perfectly fits that hole? What's your experience? My experience...well, I think my awareness of a need for God grew and matured over the years, but I never tried very hard to hammer anything else into God's place. Oh, sure, there were other little gods yammering for my attention, often successfully, but they were never anywhere near as good as the God of the Bible at explaining things, at focusing my vision, or at forgiving me when I wandered, wander, and will wander again!

What keeps you grounded in the here and now, the people you are with right now? I'd like to bless you with the thought that Jesus, teaching His disciples how to pray, told them to focus on the simplest, most basic things: daily bread, the tiniest temptations, and forgiveness--given daily and accepted daily. And, to do the simple little things as per "All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten": take care of one another, be nice, always say please and thank you...and, I think the Bible would put an extra emphasis on that part about taking care of one another.

What do you yearn for? What indeed keeps you focused and useful and on task? What is your relationship with God like? Or not? Let's talk.