Thoughts produced by Thomas Merton

I should currently be working on the sermon that I have to give at Preaching/Teaching tomorrow at VLI, but instead I'm taking a little "break" a.k.a I'm stuck and can't think about it anymore.

This morning I was reading a bit from Thoughts In Solitude by Thomas Merton. If you have not read it you should, because it is excellent and it makes one think a lot. I read chapter 12 this morning and was really challenged by it. The first paragraph reads,

"If you want to have a spiritual life you must unify your life. A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire."

The chapter goes on to talk about the need to renounce all desires that are not God. I'll give another quote because He says it better than I can.

"By renouncing the world we conquer the world, rise above it's multiplicity and recapitulate it in the simplicity of a love which finds all things in God.
This is what Jesus meant when He said that anyone who would save his life will lose it, and he who would lose his life, for the sake of God, would save it."

This really made me start thinking about what desires I have. I would say that my number one desire is to serve God and follow wherever He leads me. However, my life does not always reflect this. Often my other desires, whatever they may be, get in the way of this one main desire that I would say is foremost in my life. I'm not necessarily saying that desiring things is wrong, but what are my priorities? If someone who observes my life on a regular basis were to answer the question, "What, based on how you have seen Janell living, is her number one desire, her top priority?" What would they answer? What does the way I really live my life and operate day to day reveal about my priorities in life? What desires are getting in the way of my relationship with God? What end am I living for? Just something I'm thinking about.