BOOK REVIEW. The Sacred Romance: Chapter 1, The Lost Life of the Heart

"Thirsty hearts are those whose longings have been wakened by the touch of God within them." A. W. Tozer

I. Something is missing

Somehow, in the midst of our busy, meaningful and full lives, we get a few seconds to reflect on our spiritual journey.

Somehow, in the midst of our home, business and church activities a voice speaks to us and we listen.

It suggests: There is something missing in all of this, isn't there something more? Aren't you thirsty? Are you listening to the passion of your heart? How long has it been since you lived outside of the "program" and did something reckless and wild?

This can't be God speaking to us, we think. He is orderly, pure, dry and passionless, isn't He?

But this voice persists more insistently, if we don't drown it out with outward activities or feed it only the bread and water of duty and obligation:

Listen to me - there is something missing. You long to be in a love affair, an adventure. You were made for something more. You know it.

II. Performance isn't everything.

When we truly listen, we know that it doesn't matter how well we have performed or accomplished -- if we haven't done it with "all our heart or soul" it wasn't worth it.

Because it is only out of this wellspring of the soul that true caring and the truly meaningful work and worship exists. From this soul or this heart is where we first hear the true voice of God and come to know Him and learn to live in His love.

Somehow our lives have covered over, in little bits or even in big chunks, that part of our heart meant to sustain and nourish wholesome adventures and newness, awesome strangeness and mysteries. So then this part of our heart may retreat, as an endangered species, into the edge of the dark forests of sin and wrong temptations.

Adventure, mystery, love and beauty are lost and we forget that these are vital to our life. What will we do when we wake one day to find our heart has lost touch with these things and with it the very refuge where God's presence resides?

III. Our original shimmering self

"Our original shimmering self gets buried so deep we hardly live out of it at all ... rather, we learn to live out of all the other selves which we are constantly putting on and taking off like coats and hats against the world's weather." Frederick Buechner

Those other selves listen to the lies of this post-modern world. The world that values living in boxes labeled "all in order, no messes here" , "efficient and organized, productivity reigning" and "see how busy I am, I am important. I am significant."

The life of the heart, the deep places within us, our passions and dreams, our fears and our deepest wounds are the unseen life, but make up the true story of who we are.

The journey of our heart to find its true home and a Sacred Romance with God is a yearning and inconsolable longing that is the most powerful part of any human personality. If we lose touch with our heart, we cannot hear or respond. If our heart becomes hardened and we live only in the realm of ethics or programs, we cannot truly know or love God.

Draw closer to the heart of God and let this book lead you to remember what it was that first engaged you in a deep way as a child. Begin to see how your own story is interwoven with the great Romance God has been telling and inviting us into, since before the dawn of time. Come see how each of you has a part in the cosmic love affair He created specifically with you in mind.

Luke 10:26-28 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself."

Review by Amanda Bailey, amanda@thriveforwomen.org