The Heart Going Before

Desire and Will

Jul 30, 2005

Saying For Today: Desire, often suspect in religious traditions, is a powerful motivator.

An aged pilgrim was walking to the Himalayan Mountains in the bitter cold of winter. An innkeeper asked him, “Sir, how will you ever get there in this kind of weather?” “My heart got there first, so it’s easy for the rest of me to follow,” answered the pilgrim.

The above story, adapted from Anthony de Mello, Taking Flight, reminds us of the power of aspiration. Desire, often suspect in religious traditions, is a powerful motivator. If our heart is in something, we will find commitment to and perseverance to it much easier than if only our head is in it.

Therefore, we need to enjoy regularly devotional prayer. Devotional prayer engages the feelings. We are practicing a Love relationship with Love. Keeping our heart warmed by the Fire of Spirit, invigorated by Love, is vital to the Journey.

There is a difference between saying, “I should …” and “I need …” and saying, “I want to…” When we should or need but do not feel the desire, we can pray for the aspiration. With aspiration our will is vivified and we will enjoy doing from desire. Acting from necessity cannot give us the enjoyment, or the being-in-joy, which comes from having our hearts shaped to the will of God and the good of those we love in Love.

Spiritual Exercise

1. Is there something you need to do but fail to have the aspiration to do? Why not, today, pray for the desire to do it?
2. Which of these best describes you?
a. I tend to listen to my head about what I should do?
b. I tend to listen to my heart about what I should do?
3. How might mind and heart work together in discerning and doing God’s will?

Prayer

Spirit of Christ, give me the wisdom to know what needs to be done, give me the desire to do it.
-Brian K. Wilcox

OneLife Ministries is a pastoral outreach and nurture ministry of the First United Methodist Church, Fort Meade, FL. For Spiritual Direction, Pastoral Counseling, spiritual formation workshops, Christian meditation retreats, or more information about OneLife, write Rev. Dr. Brian K. Wilcox at briankwilcox@comcast.net.