The Invitation Written in the Heart

I’d recently been struggling with feelings of belonging and sense of community. I was in some dark places, spiritually. Why can’t I ever feel like I fit in? Why do I struggle so hard to find deep connection? Why do I want it so badly?

There’s a lot to unpack with all I’ve been going through. But the first moment of comfort came at an Advent retreat discussing the yearning of the human heart.

We are meant to desire more. We are built for community and connection. And we are built for being in a relationship with God. The human heart will always yearn for that. That (sometimes painful) feeling of un-satisfaction comes from the world being unsatisfactory. We are broken and sinful. The world offers millions of distractions to keep us from exploring that yearning feeling. We’re told to find quick fixes, chase hedonistic instincts, dull any pain. We want to shake off that inner feeling that there should be more.

C. S. Lewis said, “Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists…. 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. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.”

The yearning is alright. The yearning is natural. The yearning is good. It is in yearning that we press further, deeper. Satisfaction drives us to better ourselves, mend the world, move closer and closer to reconciliation with God. We live in the hope that those yearnings will one day be satisfied.

Advent is the season of hope, a season to look to the future when all will be well. A savoir is coming. Pain will be healed. Peace will reign.

When we respond to God’s love, rather than suppressing our longings in worldly distraction, it is there we can find peace and joy in the here and now. The closer we grow to God, the more our yearning will be satisfied. It may not be fully satisfied in this life, or only come in momentary glimpses, but it can be good. A life lived in accord with God’s will brings peace to the soul.

We want to jump to joy. We want instant happiness. But to get to joy, we have to start with the yearning, the desire to know God. That desire motivates us to do the work, to go on the journey of spiritual growth, to move closer to God. He’s invited us; it’s written into our hearts. His love and our hope will bring about true peace and joy.