The hope of our longing

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:7b)

The sights and sounds of this blessed season stir a primal longing for grace and peace within us. Try as it might, the world’s doubt and cynicism cannot kill the hope of our longing.

We hunger for grace, for an impossible and improbable love freely given, poured out, charming our hearts, igniting joy.

And grace comes. It comes in sunlight piercing the gloom of a winter day, playing across my desk, dispersing the clouds that shadow the heart. It awakens tears as I hug my grandsons, startled by the awareness that the love I feel is God’s love flowing through me, holding us fast, pulling us close so that we are one with this great and improbable Love.

This is the hope of our longing and the illumination of our understanding. For such moments of oneness reveal the mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the unity of transcendent, everlasting love and mortal life, whose grace draws us into the heart of God and satisfies our longing.

David L. Miller