Desires of our Hearts?!!?!?

DESIRE: 1:  to long or hope for :  exhibit or feel desire for <desire success>

2a :  to express a wish for :  request <they desire an immediate answer>

 

If you are looking for the "desires" expressed in late night commercials....(especially lately....jeez!), I apologize in advance. You will be disappointed. If you want some recent thoughts? Read on.

 

I admit that I have thought that the desires talked about in the Bible had to be BIG things. Things that we knew there was no other way to explain them than God bestowed them upon us. I have experienced situations like that....where all the people and places aligned and I have no other explanation. (She lives in our house!)

 

However, especially lately, I have come to realize that sometimes? Our desires can be small and seemingly insignificant to anyone other than us. I still have no other way to explain it. I'm not looking for an explanation just thinking about the need to acknowledge when desires are met....ESPECIALLY when they would matter to no one else but me....or you. 

 

We all have desires - call them what you want: dreams, wishes (sprinkle of fairy dust?) :), wants, needs, etc. Some are long-term, some are immediate, some are really just "well, it would be nice if ______". I have had a couple of the last ones that keep bubbling to the top of my mind so I figured it's time to let them fly out my fingers. I will warn you that these will sound like small things (even in my own opinion), but I bring them up to hopefully get you to thinking of recent (or long ago) things that have just worked out. 

 

#1: Towels. I will mention I like LOVE pink and purple. If my house could be painted those colors and not stand out terribly, I would paint tomorrow. If you have been married for any length of time (or just bought towels a long time ago), you eventually start to notice that your towels start to thin and wear. It really should be time to get some new ones, but money is tight and the old ones still function. They still dry you after the shower, but maybe just a bit more drafty! Hand towels would be nice, but the old ones work even if they no longer match the colors in your bathrooms (from when you moved 13 years ago). Decor has really never been one of my main concerns anyway......

I also LOVE thrift stores. Maybe a bit too much! Even just to look around. You never know what cool item(s), clothes or other oddities may be lurking on the shelves. (My version of hunting!) AND the prices are usually a great deal...and in most cases, I'm supporting a good cause. ;)

On one of my excursions, I find pink AND purple hand towels right next to each other. They look practically new, would look nice in my bathroom AND (did I mention) they're pink and purple! AND cheap! I was not even really looking for (or even thinking of) towels....yet, there they were. A nice little smile for my day.

#2: Perfume. I like Sand and Sable. It has been getting harder and harder to find. I usually look around Christmas time. Then I wait for the after Christmas clearance and IF it's still there, I buy it. This past Christmas, I did not see any "holiday collections" of my favorite scent....and I looked. A lot of places, as in every time I was in a store that would possibly have it, I checked. Nothing. 

My current supply had been dwindling. I'm sure I could and do have other (almost as) favorite brands. Fast forward to early January. We were in a part of town we would not normally be in. We stopped at a store we would not normally have stopped at. I find the Christmas clearance aisle. I look through a few things and spot a few perfumes. I see a tannish looking box. Dare I hope? 1 box. Holiday collection (big and little bottles) Sand and Sable. Half off. :) girl!

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I will mention that I often don't look for stuff for myself. I enjoy finding things that others might not get for themselves (or realize they might want....or not really need....and have probably been re-gifted.... hee hee) and if I get it at a bargain....I am one satisfied customer.

The above 2 examples are something that would not have mattered to anyone else.....but me. I had not mentioned to anyone that I wanted them. They are small items in a big world....but it mattered on those days....to me. 

What would I really want/desire? World peace (of course, beauty pageant answer!)

 

So, after ALL that, the questions I pose to you (and me) are: What do you desire? Have you told anyone? Written it down? Know it if/when you get it? Prayed for it? Would you be OK if it looks different than what you expect? Are you ready to be amazed?

I have not taken the time to ponder lately. I think this is worthy of pondering. If we don't know what we want, how will we know when it shows up? Start dreaming. Start desiring. Watch God show up in BIG ways and those seemingly little ones....that will matter only to you. If we don't look, we won't see.

Psalm 37:3-4 (NIV) Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Pieces of Heart

I am so concerned for teens and the relationships that come into their lives. So many of them are looking for a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. School and, hopefully, we as parents give them information regarding "safe" sex and relationships. However, I think we concentrate too much on the sex and not enough on the relationship. Our kids are smarter than that. If we give them info, I truly believe they can be wise enough to use it when needed.

Parents: Talk to your kid BEFORE they are involved with someone. By the time they are "in" a relationship, it won't matter as much what you say.

Urge your teenager to make a list of qualities they would like in another person. The best time to do this is BEFORE they are involved with somebody. This makes it much easier to see if someone really meets your qualifications before you get all tingly. ;)

Talk to them about rules regarding your house. Rules are not always the same at someone else's house. Tell them no matter whose house they're at, no closed doors. Even better, not being alone together. A lot of things happen just because temptation is always there if it is just the two of you. There is a lot to be said about group dates for teens that seem to be dating younger and younger.

Let your kids talk to you....even if it is embarrassing for them and you. It is better for them to get correct information from you....then wrong information from other sources.

A little bit of prep work will help the heartache later.

TV shows sex with little or no consequences. Movies like Friends With Benefits assume that people can have sex and not include the emotional aspects or complications that come from sex in uncommitted relationships.

I had read about a demonstration with paper hearts that shows the effects of sex on relationships. So I brought some construction paper and glue to school on one of our lunch Tuesdays.

We cut or ripped out hearts from 2 colors of paper. (You need 2 colors to see the after effect)  We glued the hearts together. Ideally, we would have left them together longer, but I think my friends still got the point. I told them some of the things mentioned above and then had them pull the hearts apart.

Before                                                                             After

The point was/is that when sex is introduced into a relationship no matter what happens, a piece of that person will go with you.....always. Sometimes it can make it hard to leave a relationship you might not have stayed in if you had not gotten physical. Sometimes you make a baby you didn't plan on. That's not fair to you....or the baby.


One of the things I used to tell my youth group kids is that there is no condom big enough to protect your heart. So much for "safe" sex.


Proverbs 4:23 (NLT) Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.