A Longing Heart/A Longing of the Heart

Psalm 42
As the deer longs for streams of water,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, the living God.

The Psalm itself is much longer than the bit I’ve got here. This Psalm like many others speaks to the heart longing for God, longing to more deeply experience the presence of God, longing to know God. We understand the deer longing for streams of water because we long for water, or we should. It’s a simple, basic, core longing. We need water to survive. We know how awful we feel when we’re not getting enough water. Our bodies do not function in their intended way.
This winter has me longing for spring. Oh do I ever need spring. I can not tell you how excited I was the other day that I was privileged to enjoy the tail end of a sunset. The evening color increased my longing for what I know is on it’s way. Spring, color, warmth,  light and bare feet. Oh man do I ever love going barefoot.
I need to be patient.
I still long for water, long for God, long for the life that spring brings.
In my quilt life I long to improve. In order to do that I have to do the work.
I long to be a better teacher. In order to do that I have to do the work. Listening to my students and what their needs are and adjusting what I do.
I long to be a better student. There is always room to learn. I need to listen to other teachers and my students.
I long for that stream of water. Sometimes the stream is far and sometimes it’s near. It’s my job to figure out how to get to that stream and then I need to drink. I can’t complain that I’m thirsty if the water is right there for me to drink and I do nothing to quench my thirst.
As a quilter I need to tap into the opportunities available to me. Classes, quilt shows, blogs, magazines, videos and friends. This is the “water” available to me. I need to do the work of applying to teach at shows, write articles, blogs and letting quilters know I’m here for them.
Fulfill that longing of your heart.