Monday, August 05, 2013

Yearning and the Will of God


Often when we talk about the will of God there is a kind of sigh, a letting out of air, a letting go. Maybe that surrender is in the right place. But sometimes we speak of God’s Will with a resignation and a sense that “Well, I better obey if I know what’s good for me”. Like we’re all going to  the principal’s office for trying to have fun at school.

But what if God does want us to have fun? What if He/She really means for us to be happy—not in some sanctimonious way—but in a real world belly laugh, giggle and stand in awe way.

I can start to allow myself to believe that when I read Thomas Merton. Here is a bit on what he has to say about God’s will and yearning:

Some people view the will of God as an elephant hanging overhead, ready to fall on them. Actually the word which we translate into English as “will” comes from both a Hebrew and a Greek word which means yearning. It is that yearning which lovers have for one another. Not a yearning of the mind alone or of the heart alone but of the whole being. Any yearning which we feel is only a glimmering of the depth of the yearning of God for us.

God yearns for us? Could we really be happy, joyous and free? If that were true how would it change your life?




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