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Desire Part One
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Transcript of Desire Part One
DesireDesire
CafechurchCafechurch
2929thth July July 2014 2014
Overview
• Noticing my desires
• Learning to listen to and act on my deepest, most authentic desires
• The relationship between my desires and God’s will
The Power of Desire
• Our lives are stories of desire: desire is necessary for living
• Ignatius recognises the importance of desire in the Spiritual Exercises:
id quod volo ‘that which I desire’
The Marshmallow Test
The Power of Desire
• Desire shapes our decisions, actions and reactions: we do our own will (what we want)
• Multiple and often conflicting desires
• Desire can be a spring of life, or a destructive power
Reflection
• What desires are you conscious of right now?
• What desires are shaping your life and decisions at the moment?
God’s Will and My Desiring
… desire is usually presented as a dangerous tendency; something to be curbed and brought into submission to ‘the will of God’, which is the only ‘legitimate desire’ for a conscientious Christian. Gerard Hughes, God in all things, p73
•Split spirituality: ANYTHING I desire must be rooted in my own selfishness, which I must oppose
God’s Will and My Desiring • The will of God is seen as:
o remote and unknowableo probably opposed to my desireso I will be punished for not carrying it out
• Some possible responses:o hiding my real self from Godo forced self-transcendenceo feeling bad about feeling good
Discussion
• Do you recognise this approach to desire?
• Where have you encountered it?
• What are the effects (on you or others)?
God’s Will and My Desiring
• We are called to do God’s willo Jesus in the garden prayed ‘Let your will be
done, not mine’ Luke 22:42
• BUT this is not a matter of submitting my will to the remote will of God
Finding God through our Desires
• Instead of seeing the longings of our hearts as opposed to God, can we see our desires as helping us to find God?
• God’s Will – his desire for me – and my own deepest desire (when I am really ‘living true’) are one and the same thing
Margaret Silf, Landmarks, p135
The Thrust of our Desiring
• Desires for security and nourishment (root desires)oDesire for safety and comfort, for stability, for
friendship
• Desires for expression (branch desires)oDesire to do creative work, to reach out to
others with compassion
Our Deepest Desire is for God
• Desires are multi-layered and have deep roots in our longing for God, towards which all other desires point.
• Our deepest, most authentic desire:You have made us for yourself, and
our hearts are restless until they rest in You. Augustine, Confessions
Authentic Desires
• All desires are real experiences
• But not all desires are equally authentic
• Authentic desires move me to love God and others
The Story of Ignatius
• Two kinds of daydreams
oGreat deeds to win the love of a great lady
oOutdoing the saints
• Daydreaming about the saints revealed a deeper layer to his desiring
For your prayer and reflection
How is God speaking to you through your desires?
What is life-giving for you?