An Unsatisfiable Longing

Reading: Engaging God's World (ch. 1: Longing and Hope), Plantinga.

It is widely discussed among any society, the topic of this hole, this longing for something. In most, this longing is most evident when we are caught up in the magnificence of a piece of music, or a beautiful piece of scenery, and we cannot help but want to be a part of it; to simply not be anymore, and let it consume us, absorb us, receive us indefinably. Yet, despite it all, we are not satisfied.

"The truth is that nothing in this earth can finally satisfy us," writes Plantinga. He's right, of course. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes by Lewis (ironically enough): "If we have discovered a desire within us that nothing in this world can satisfy, also we should begin to wonder if, perhaps, we were created for another world." The indication is clear: we long for something and are unfulfilled because we long for something far greater than anything in this physical world. The Christian argument is that God is the only thing that can possibly fill such a hole.

It makes sense, then, to hope for that day in which our longing is fulfilled, and, in time, to hope for the peace that will conquer the restlessness of the nations.

I know I have woken up some mornings wanting to "break out crying from stabs of hopeless joy, or intolerable promises," and even simply because "those morning s were too full of beauty for me." But those days help me catch a glimpse of what God has prepared, allowed me a crack in the door that reveals that incomprehensible thing we like to call "heaven."