When the longing is for non tangible it helps me to take stock: if I long for peace, what am I doing to promote it. If I long for justice, what am I willing to do to bring that to fruition; if I long for a closer relationship with God, how willing am I to invest the time for study and contemplation. When I long for “stuff” it creates chaos…. yet it still happens more often than I care to admit. You’d think I’d learn….
For me sometimes longing becomes a knee-jerk reaction. I see something and I think, “I’d like that.” But soon I’m examining if it really is something that would enhance my experience in life, or, like Kevin says, if it is attainable, and 999 times out of 1,000 the answer is no. So I think that’s how longing enriches my life…it forces me to keep evaluating who I am and what is really important to me.
Unless my longing helps me to attain the thing I have longed for, I don’t think it enriches my life in measurable ways at all. I hold a desire for several things, actually, even though I am aware that none of them are likely to happen at this stage of my life, usually for practical reasons such as physical ability, stamina and conflicts with other priorities which I hold dear. And for the most part, I am content with this reality, even though I may long from time to time for a particular thing...
Unless my longing helps me to attain the thing I have longed for, I don’t think it enriches my life in measurable ways at all. I hold a desire for several things, actually, even though I am aware that none of them are likely to happen at this stage of my life, usually for practical reasons such as physical ability, stamina and conflicts with other priorities which I hold dear. And for the most part, I am content with this reality, even though I may long from time to time for a particular thing to come about.
When the longing is for non tangible it helps me to take stock: if I long for peace, what am I doing to promote it. If I long for justice, what am I willing to do to bring that to fruition; if I long for a closer relationship with God, how willing am I to invest the time for study and contemplation. When I long for “stuff” it creates chaos…. yet it still happens more often than I care to admit. You’d think I’d learn….
For me sometimes longing becomes a knee-jerk reaction. I see something and I think, “I’d like that.” But soon I’m examining if it really is something that would enhance my experience in life, or, like Kevin says, if it is attainable, and 999 times out of 1,000 the answer is no. So I think that’s how longing enriches my life…it forces me to keep evaluating who I am and what is really important to me.
Unless my longing helps me to attain the thing I have longed for, I don’t think it enriches my life in measurable ways at all. I hold a desire for several things, actually, even though I am aware that none of them are likely to happen at this stage of my life, usually for practical reasons such as physical ability, stamina and conflicts with other priorities which I hold dear. And for the most part, I am content with this reality, even though I may long from time to time for a particular thing...
Unless my longing helps me to attain the thing I have longed for, I don’t think it enriches my life in measurable ways at all. I hold a desire for several things, actually, even though I am aware that none of them are likely to happen at this stage of my life, usually for practical reasons such as physical ability, stamina and conflicts with other priorities which I hold dear. And for the most part, I am content with this reality, even though I may long from time to time for a particular thing to come about.
Kevin,
This sounds like a very balanced and healthy way to view the world.
Hope you are pain free and doing well.
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