The Continuance of Your Longing is the Continuance of Your Prayer.

“The desire is thy prayers; and if thy desire is without ceasing, thy prayer will also be without be without ceasing. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer.” –Augustine of Hippo

I initially read this quote in a book, the same book I referenced in my article on Monday. I know you guys are probably tired of me recommending it . . .. The author was talking about how our desires, while they can be corrupted, are often given to us by God. And that by recognizing that we love doing certain things, and those desires are given to us by God, that this can bring us rest. Knowing that God made us to love and desire to do certain things means that we don’t love all things and aren’t called to do all things. I find this freeing and helpful. God has uniquely gifted me and put certain desires on my heart so that I can go out and do what he has called me to do. This frees me from feeling like I need to do everything and it empowers me to do the things that he has called me to, even when they might feel too difficult or when I might not feel equipped.

As I was thinking about this quote though, from Augustine of Hippo, I wondered, what is the continuance of my longing? From a bird’s eye view I can see many things that God has placed on my heart that I continually long for. To raise my children to see and know lovely and beautiful things in this world. To raise them to love God and others. To continue to write, in the context of this blog and curriculum for RISE. To start a business with my product ideas. I could go on, but the point is that God has placed many high level beautiful desires on my heart. But often, if I really think about the continuance of my longing, it feels like I spend more time longing for silly things– like ice cream, coffee, free time, silence, sleep. I’m not saying any of these are bad, but I think when I get overly focused on the small, daily things, I forget about the bigger desires that God has placed on my heart. The little things are a distraction. They keep me from doing the big ones that really matter. So as I go about the rest of my week, I’m going to try to let those bigger, God given desires shine through and put my energy towards them. I think as I do this it is likely that the small desires of my heart will fade and that those given to me by God will shine through all the stronger. What desires has God placed on your heart? What is the continuance of your longing?