John Eldredge - The Journey of Desire: Searching for the Life Youve Always Dreamed of

T HERE S AN OLD PROVERB I VE COME TO LOVE AND APPRECIATE very much: Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life (Prov. 4:23). The wisdom of the passage is simply thisto lose heart is to lose everything. Because everything that makes a life worth living flows from the heart. Intimacy, romance, love. Adventure and meaning and purpose. Courage and sacrifice and joy. The list could go on and on. We need this wellspring of life within us if we would live and not merely get by.

So then, how do we guard our heart? How do we even know what our heart is up to, or how its doing, or where its headed? In some sense, you have to read the whole of Scripture to get a good answer. But I can give you one secret to your heartdesire. What you do with desire is what you do with your heart. How you handle your deepest desires is how you handle your heart. Its that straightforward.

Desire is powerful. One of the most powerful forces in our lives.

At least, it was meant to be.

But were not quite sure how we feel about desire, really. Or what to do with it. Desire feels... messy. You see those books out there promising you, The life you dream of is yours to have! Follow your desire! It sounds good. But weve all seen people try it and fail. They leap to a new career, or open themselves up to intimacy, or start up a project theyve always dreamed about. And when it comes crashing down, they come limping home. Seems like the only guy who can pull it off is the author of the book making all the promises. And we wonder, Is it worth risking, opening myself up to my desires?

Then youve got the other camp, often coming from well-intended church folk who warn, Dont even think about it. Desire is only going to get you into trouble. And theres reason to believe them. Weve seen the affairs, the addictions, the financial ruin, and all the other heartache brought on by someone following their desire. It looks utterly reasonable to simply kill desire. And call it sanctification. The path of maturity.

Both camps are right, in a way. And theyre both wrong. Desire can lead us to the life we were meant to live. And desire can get us into a heap of trouble too. Or just profound disappointment. Desire is a lot like love in that way. When its good, its really good. And when its bad, its really bad. Many people fear love for that very reason. Just as they fear desire. But a life without love can hardly be called living. The same holds true when we abandon our hearts deep desires. Instead of guarding the wellspring of life within us, we cap it with a cement plug and try to get on with life.

It doesnt really work. You end up losing heart. And that is an awful place to find yourself.

I believe desire is a gift from God. After all, the Psalms say things like, May he give you the desire of your heart (20:4), and Praise the L ORD , O my soul... who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles (103:1, 5), and You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing (145:16, emphasis added). Clearly, God is not opposed to desire. Far from it. He gave us a heart that desires deeply, and he uses those desires to draw us to himself, and to the life he created us to live.

What we need to learn is how to listen to desire, how to interpret it. Desire is speaking to us, all the time. It is one of the deepest voices of the heart. A voice many of us have never been taught to understand. Desire can lead us to the life we were meant to live. It can shape our hopes and dreams, fill them with passion and determination. It can sustain us in times of distress and suffering too. It can lead us to God. If we will listen closely.

That is why we must take the journey of desire, the path of learning to listen to desire, and sort it through, and find in it the treasure God has for us. In fact, when I first published this book, I dont think anyone understood the title. And the book came at an unfortunate time, right before the release of another book called Wild at Heart, which ended up eclipsing it. This little gem sort of fell between the cracks. But it has so much to offer, so much hope and guidance for this dangerous journey of the heart we call living.