The Longing

"I feel so dry and empty inside. There is no rest from the tears I cry.
 I'm broken and bruised and I feel I've died.
  But I have a real thirst that won't be denied. It's the longing."
          (From the song, "The longing," Randy L. Noble)

The great apologist and Oxford teacher, C.S. Lewis, describes in his books, that inward thirst that all human beings have for something better in life. He calls it a longing. In His classic book, "Till we have faces," Lewis writes, "The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing, to reach the mountain, to find the place where all the beauty came from."
Human beings are on a spiritual quest to find satisfaction, an inward longing to discover "that something" that will bring fulfillment and meaning to their lives. Lewis proclaims that, "If I discover within myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."
 In my newest book, "Driven by the wind: The calling of Tara," I explore in depth the quest for spiritual reality, the longing and desire for meaning in life. Tara is on a quest for answers. Her brother Nathan mysteriously disappears in the Indian Ocean during his solo circumnavigation of the world. Tara is devastated. Her Father then dies as a result of mourning. Unable to cope with the twin tragedies, Tara sets out in her sailboat, "The Mistral wind," determined to find the answers to the pain and brokenness in her life.
We can all relate to Tara's situation. We wants answers, we cry out for explanations to the sufferings and tragedies of our lives. There is a scene in my book where Tara is awestruck at the beauty of the sunset as she nears the equator. She gazes into the sky fascinated by the orange and purple colors dancing on the clouds as the sun disappears below the horizon. The beauty of God is staring Tara in her face but she closes her eyes to the truth.

 Do you have a longing, a tugging at your heart? Are you driven to find the answers like Tara? What will your response be? Tara got into her sailboat to answer the longing and the God of Irresistible love pursued her all over the world. You can run from God but He will pursue you because in the end only Jesus can satisfy the longing of your heart. He is the bread of life that satisfies our spiritual hunger. Jesus is the treasure that your heart is longing for. What will your response be?