AVENUES

Where does your heart race when you are sitting among the pillars and titans of drudgery? Can we truly hobble basic desires or do we really need to?

I ponder this more of late as I sit in the rut that is my place called existence. What I do each day is necessary and essential for my life. At least as far as I can sense in terms of God's will for my life.

But I have to confess that the periods of famine in the zest of moments and expectations does leave its own ache. And I imagine it is true for many people.

There is and always will be gaps between our desires and our sense of right and wrong. Part of it is the values we have enforced upon us as well as our own appreciation for what we should do.

None of that ever keeps us from wanting the forbidden. The battle comes not from surrendering to that war or claiming victory when you are fatally wounded in your will. That is the denial that leads no where victorious.

Yet, I have seen those souls with passions for life that have not found healthy outlets for them. You can see the haunting in their lives. They fight to suppress what they can not have for a variety of reasons. Making it a case of "sour grapes" does not ease the tension inside.

I have no miracle cures to offer as solutions for when those deepest and darkest desires of our lives burn in our veins and you can't control the fire. I only know that God isn't oblivious to such needs.

However, I do also know that God will not "bless" us by granting us some fulfillment of our desires by a means that is harmful to ourselves. Neither can I say that he will find a means to satisfy our hunger as we want.

God may have work a miracle and feed the people of Israel in the wilderness with manna, but it doesn't mean he will do that every time for every one. It served a specific purpose in that situation, to provide and also inspire faith.

But the abiding revelation for those willing to see is that with God there are no limits. He is God and that means he has the power to do what he desires. When applied to our lives it means it can change them for the good or bad in a heartbeat.

Still we have to be prepared to listen to his wisdom. Not to clutch with a gimmie, gimmie attitude as if our view of satisfying our need is the best.

When that ache burns inside, when we are feeling alone, uncared about and slowly dying from some form of unhappiness, it is the time to truly lean upon God for help. He can open our eyes in the most incredible ways to touches that will last and not scar. It, like with all things, is a matter of trust.