We All Want Something

What do you find yourself wanting right now? Maybe it’s rest. Relief. Clarity. A moment of quiet in a life that feels loud.

Desire can feel empty, like a desert. To desire is to want to be filled with… something.

Photo by Antoine Vidal de La Blache on Unsplash

We all want. Desire is part of being human. And far from being a flaw, it may actually be a doorway—an invitation to life on a deeper level.

Boethius wrote that people chase wealth, pleasure, or status because they believe those things will lead to what he called the Good. For him, the Good was not a thing but God. He believed that our wanting is meant to lead us into deeper connection—with the Divine, with others, and with ourselves.

The Gift of Emptiness

Psalm 63 gives voice to this deeper kind of longing:

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you. My soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

These words were written in the wilderness—betrayed, displaced, uncertain of what would come next. And yet, what rises from the desert is not bitterness, but desire.

A year ago, I walked through a wilderness of my own. It was a season of loss and isolation I would never have chosen. But God met me in the emptiness and slowly, deeply, began to reshape my desires toward Him. There was a gift in the emptiness.

Desire as a Doorway

Science reminds us that we are made to want. Psychiatrist Anna Lembke writes about how rats without dopamine—the brain’s motivation chemical—won’t even seek food unless it’s placed in their mouths. Without desire, they die.

The same is true for us, spiritually. Desire is not a weakness. It’s how we’re drawn toward what matters most. And often, it’s in our emptiness that we learn what we truly long for.

Jesus knew the wilderness too. Before preaching a word, he entered the desert. And when he emerged, he said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” He doesn’t shame our emptiness. He blesses it.

Entering Fullness

Psalm 63 doesn’t end with thirst. It ends with satisfaction. “My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food.” The gift of emptiness invites us to enter divine fullness.

Let me invite you to engage with this prayer from the mystic, Julian of Norwich. She knew both the emptiness and the fullness that our desires draw us into. Let this quiet invitation lead you into fullness:

O God of your goodness, give me yourself,
for you are enough for me.
I can ask for nothing less that is completely to your honor,
and if I do ask anything less, I shall always be in want.
Only in you I have all.

Let this prayer be a practice today. Notice your longing. Let it lead you to the One who longs for you.