Athirst is my soul for God, the living God. When shall I go and behold the face of God? //Psalm 42:2-3
One funny, sometimes frustrating experience of being a mama is that inevitable moment when you are in a crowd and a child calls out “MOM!” Heads turn from all over, mothers looking to see if the voice belongs to someone in their care. Sometimes it takes a minute, but usually it is much quicker than that. Someone is crying out, and a mother can quickly assess if it is her child and whether or not she is needed.
We know the voice of the one we love, and it does not take us long to be certain.
“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord,” wrote Saint Augustine in Confessions, "and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”
We were created for deep union with God. We were made for God, and deep inside us, we know this truth. We might not be aware of this reality from the onset. Some of us may have wandered in the desert in search of Truth for some time. Some of us may have always known Truth but had not yielded to the deeper connection we must be willing to pursue. Either way, over time God uses circumstances and feelings to help us begin the journey back towards Him.
The world and the culture try to tell us what will make us happy. We use food and money and fun and all kinds of other “things” to fill a hole inside of us that only God can fill. These are not necessarily bad things, but if we use them as a substitute for the thing that will actually bring us real, everlasting peace, we will be restless.
Our soul is athirst for God, says the psalmist. And it will not be content with a false god—we are the Lord’s sheep. If we try to follow the wrong shepherd, we choose to turn away from God's grace and the real, abiding joy He is offering. Our souls were created for God, and He does not want us to settle for anything less.
Lord, help us to always listen for Your voice. You are the Good Shepherd, and our souls were made for You alone.
We know the voice of the one we love. // Rachel Balducci Click to tweet
Rachel Balducci has a Masters degree from the Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia and teaches at Augusta University. She and her husband Paul have five sons and one daughter and are part of an intentional Christian community in Augusta, Georgia. Rachel is the author of several books and is the co-host of The Gist of CatholicTV. Find out more about her here.
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