god is thirstingLiving in a warm climate I tend to drink lots of water all day long.  Basically I am never without water near me.  I dislike being thirsty and know that it’s a short distance from thirsty to a headache for me.

I read this last week, “God is thirsting for us to thirst for him” (St. Gregory Nazianus)  and it has stuck with me.  It put my spiritual life and physical life smack up against each other in a very real way.  God truly wants us to want him and seek him.  And when we thirst for him, it is like a physical need that makes us want to pause and be present to him.  We want to pray or go to Mass or serve his people.  And when we act on that desire, it is the same as when we take a cool drink of water; our soul is refreshed.

But even more than our soul being refreshed is the image of God being refreshed by our presence.  We think so much of what we get out of our relationship with God but this “God is thirsting for us to thirst for him” reminds us that God gets something from us.

I need to remember to not ignore my thirst.

Copyright 2014 Deanna Bartalini