Indeed, if we will listen, a Sacred Romance calls to us through our heart every moment of our lives.  It whispers to us on the wind, invites us through the laughter of good friends, reaches out to us through the touch of someone we love.  We've heard it in our favorite music, sensed it at the birth of our first child, been drawn to it while watching the shimmer of a sunset on the ocean.  The Romance is even present in times of great personal suffering: the illness of a child, the loss of a marriage, the death of a friend.  Something calls to us through experiences like these and rouses an inconsolable longing deep within our heart, wakening in us a yearning for intimacy, beauty, and adventure.



 
... he says that even though we sleep, our desire does not.  "It is who we are."  We are desire.  It is the essence of the human soul, the secret of our existence.  Absolutely nothing of human greatness has ever been accomplished without it.  Not a symphony has been written, a mountain climbed, an injustice fought, or a love sustained apart from desire.  Desire fuels our search for the life we prize.  Our desire, if we will listen to it, will save us from committing soul-suicide, the sacrifice of our hearts on the altar of "getting by".  The same old thing is not enough.  It never will be.


 

Just as our lungs are made to breathe oxygen, our souls are designed to flourish in an atmosphere rich in love and meaning, security and significance, intimacy and adventure.  But we don't live in that world anymore.  Far from it.  Though we try to resolve the dilemma by disowning our desire, it doesn't work.  It is the soul's equivalent of holding our breath.  Eventually, we find ourselves gasping for air.  As Allender said, "Can any human being live with a loss of soul- a loss of his or her very own existence? Of course not."



Faith looks back and draws courage; hope looks ahead and keeps desire alive.

   

-excerpts from  Desire  &  The Sacred Romance