I have just finished rereading a book from my shelf called The Sacred Romance – Drawing Closer to the Heart of God by Brent Curtis and John Eldridge. It has challenged and excited me the way it did when I received it as a gift 20 years ago.
“Some years into our spiritual journey, …. a voice speaks to us in the midst of all we are doing. There is something missing in all of this, it suggests. There is something more.”
“Sometime later, the voice in our heart dares to speak to us again, more insistently this time. Listen to me – there is something missing in all this. You long to be in a love affair, an adventure. You were made for something more. You know it.”
This is not a book to rush through but a life changing meditation. It is also not another self-help book.
The authors describe our lives as small stories defined by the arrows from our past, as well as the crises and persistent troubles – “dragons and nits”, interspersed with infrequent and unexpected blessings. Maybe “they are part of the plot through which God redeems our heart in very personal ways.”
The whole world is groaning and while it is easy to complain and argue about opinions, a bigger story is happening all around us. God is calling to each one of us.
God still teaches me about myself through times spent listening to Him, even after more than 40 years as a believer. God brings to the surface hurts and unforgiving attitudes that I didn’t know I’d buried and sometimes hurts from arrows that I knew were there but didn’t want challenged.
The longing for more continues to draw me in the midst of the dragons and nits of my life.
I want my last years on earth to be “a journey full of intimacy, adventure, and beauty” even if there is some danger on the path!
“If you long for something more, even if you don’t know what that something is, then open this profound book…The Sacred Romance is the story of our lives; it is God’s story. It is His invitation to experience His unfathomable love for us.”
The Sacred Romance – Drawing Closer to the Heart of God by Brent Curtis and John Eldridge; Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1997. www.thomasnelson.com
MARNIE SPENCELAYH 