Journey of the Heart / Jennifer Burger

A wish: Rooted in God’s love, let us build his kingdom through our lives

My husband and I recently worked on a Tobit marriage prep weekend at Our Lady of Fatima Retreat House in Indianapolis, and during one of the breaks I noticed one of the engaged couples outside picking a stray dandelion and blowing the gray fluffs into the wind.

Their smiles let me know this was a playful moment for them, and it brought a smile to me, too. I imagined the wishes they blew into the wind were filled with their hopes and dreams for their marriage and future together.

We all have hopes, dreams and desires that motivate us and give meaning or purpose in our lives. Have we considered, though, what God hopes, dreams and desires for us?

There are some desires that God has placed in my heart that, while I might personally aspire to them, I know they are not just for me, but for his benefit in building the kingdom of God. It is a holy desire, an integration of self and the divine that is rooted in love, motivated by love, and designed for love.

Too often, I confuse this desire with “doing the will of God,” and I overthink what this should look like: a particular ministry? An act of service? A holy and grand gesture?

Whereas I believe that doing these things is good for building the kingdom of God—and can certainly make me feel good in doing them—I wonder if this is God’s desire for me? Is he shaking his head in amusement of all the things that I am pursuing when he already has me right where he wants me to be?

This is where we can make a further distinction between doing the will of God and knowing the will of God.

In the Gospel of John, we hear “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life” (Jn 6:40).

I believe this is God’s dream and desire for us—a relationship with Christ. It is a relationship rooted in love … the love that God has placed in our hearts and from which love and the source of all life flows.

This relationship must have depth, much like the root system of the resilient and often persistent dandelion that grows from a large taproot. This root not only gives it stability, but because of its depth it can easily absorb water and the nutrients it needs to grow, as well as store them for survival in adverse conditions.

Anchored in our faith through Christ and having access to the waters of our baptism and nourishment in the Eucharist and the other sacraments, we have been given an endless reserve of graces to bloom as God’s love—a simple but profound witness—right where we are planted, regardless of circumstance, and with constancy and perseverance.

This is where we begin to truly understand God’s desire for us. Jesus tells us “Remain in me as I remain in you” (Jn 15:4).

May our roots grow deep so that we can be the realization of God’s hope and dreams for us in every moment, and in all the places he has us or leads us.

And when the time has come to release the seeds of these holy desires, may they take flight into the world by the breath of the Holy Spirit—landing and taking root in souls and the fields of God’s kingdom.
 

(Jennifer Burger is program manager at Our Lady of Fatima Retreat House in Indianapolis and a member of St. Simon the Apostle Parish in Indianapolis. She is also a spiritual director.) †