Each day of our life journey is a day in which we long for something. Whether it is a little quiet time in the midst of a busy schedule, a new path in life, an improved relationship with someone, a new object we want to purchase, or a more fulfilling career, it seems that to be human is to be in a constant state of inquietude. Augustine would say that at the root of each and every desire is a desire for God.

For You have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. It is through our experience of restlessness that we journey closer to God.

Saint Augustine (The Confessions)

It is through our identification and acknowledgement of our experience of restlessness that we journey closer to God. For when we recognize that what we really long for in all of our desires is God, we then turn our heart and mind to God as the ultimate source of our fulfillment through prayer.

“Longing is always a prayer, even though the tongue is silent. If you are longing without interruption, then you are always praying. When does our prayer sleep? Only when our desire cools” – Sermon 80, 7.

Saint Augustine (Sermon 80, 7).

The fact is that in this life our desire will never “cool.” We will constantly be longing and searching for that which brings us to fulfillment until that day when we enter eternal rest with God. Each day is therefore an invitation to invite God into our specific experiences to discover and re-discover God as the root of our desire and our inherent desire to move closer to God.

Below are three paths to explore what you are experiencing today and reflect on how to direct your prayer to the One who gives rest.