From the Heart: What Am I Hungry For?

“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.” ~Mother Theresa

There is a magnificently deep appetite within me that never ceases to be appeased, nor quieted, nor fully satiated...

This is not an appetite for physical food or drink, rather one that drives my soul, stirs my spirit, and ignites my passion for this glorious, amazing, challenging, rich, painful, and joyful life that I've been blessed with, ever-prompting me to continue to ask the questions that give birth to little revelations.

And the very simple and honest question that has come forward at the moment is this: what am I hungry for?

Interesting that this appetite itself urged this particular question that seems so on-the-nose and almost too obvious, and yet it makes perfect sense.

This appetite should ask this question.

What am I hungry for?

This question comes to me in my own voice, and without any judgement nor prompting for some specific answer that is “right”.

It contains only the quality of genuine query and curiosity, which means it is a question worthy of being considered and wrestled with.

And so I search my heart and mind to find my answer, discovering that the answer is so very simple, so very human.

I am hungry to love, and to be loved...

I am hungry to touch, and to be touched...

I am hungry to move, and to be moved...

I am hungry to experience more of the “heaven-on-earth” moments that I have already tasted and have savored the sweet flavor of...

I am hungry to understand my place in this creation...

I am hungry to own my purpose...

I am hungry to be brave and bold with my talents...

I am hungry to feel the voice of my Creator resonate throughout my being, and fill me with delight...

I am hungry to be a bringer of joy...

I am hungry to be a bearer of light...

I am hungry to simply be me—a human being, a vessel, a woman, a child of the One who created all, and is all.

And what does all of this look like for me? What does it mean?

It looks like loving those that I am closest to, and allowing their love to penetrate me.

It looks like sharing my personal story and my life—my insides—with others, and being moved by other's lives and other's stories as well.

It looks like “getting personal” freely and openly, and being stirred by another's authenticity and openness too.

It looks like more picnics in the middle of the week, more trips to the beach with my husband Michael and our dog Lola, and more time spent connecting to our precious grown son and truly recognizing the beautiful and complex creature that he is.

It looks like discovering who I am, what I am made of, what I desire, and what I have to offer up.

It looks like staying steadfast in the work, both inner and outer, that I have been tasked with spending my days participating in.

It means staying authentic and true even when that can possibly be misunderstood, or taken for granted.

It means listening to God's voice, leaning into it, and allowing myself to be led by the sound of it.

It means staying in touch with the child in me—that little girl who never did grow up nor ever will—and seeing the world through her eyes.

It means being a vessel for good, for hope, and for uplift.

It means learning to be me, fully me, always me.

All of this is what I am hungry for...

And may my appetite never be satiated.

Taste what's good and pass it on.

Ingrid