The Seeking Heart

"Many people don't really know God. They know what they have read, or been told, but it is an intellectual knowledge that lacks true spiritual experience. Most of us grow up being told there is a God, but I'm not sure how much we believe it. We don't act like we believe in God. And those who believe in God have a relationship based on fear rather than love.

How many love God and want to know Him for Himself? I pray there will always be such people even if they are rare. All of us were made for God. But when people are told to seek God within, it is like telling them to go to another planet. What is father away and more unknown than the bottom of your own heart?

Oh God, we don't understand You. We don't know that we exist through You. Help me to see You everywhere. You allow an amazing thing: a mixture of good and evil in the hearts of even those who are most given to You. These weaknesses keep us humble and close to You. So choke back in my heart all that rises up to question Your goodness. Let me sit in silence before You, and then I will begin to understand. Nothing presses You to overwhelm Your enemies. "You are patient," says Augustine, "because You are eternal." Oh God, love Yourself in me. The more I love You, the more You pursue me with Your relentless love. Oh God, I adore You. You have made me for Yourself alone. I exist for You."

~excerpt from The Seeking Heart by Francois de Salignac de la Mothe-Fenelon, otherwise known as Fenelon