Call and Desire

We spend a great deal of our time thinking about desire. As finite beings with the power of choice, we are inherently creatures of need and want, plans and intentions, hopes and dreams. And in this season of Lent, many of us are adopting disciplines to limit or remove some of those desires in order to refocus or adjust our lifestyle.

One of the disciplines I have assigned myself this Lent is that of removing my headphones while walking from place to place. Instead of turning inward on my own interests, my own mood, and my own thoughts, the idea of forgoing music and podcasts on my daily commute is to turn out and become aware of the needs and desires of others and the ways they beckon particular responses.

As I reflect on this, I wonder whether part of the point of reining in our desires during this season is not simply to bracket our own wants and needs but to moreover train or attune those desires to the call of those around us. By this way of thinking, one’s desire for friendship may answer the call of the lonely person on the side of a room. The beginning or end of a relationship may call one to desire a future for themselves previously unimaginable. And in so doing, our hopes and wants, our aches and longings, may perhaps become ever more attuned to the call of discipleship from the crucified and risen One.

John Olson