Yearning

What do you yearn for?  Does yearning have a positive or negation connotation for you?

Dictionary.com says : Yearning is a present participle of the verb yearn

1. Have an intense feeling of loss or lack and longing for something.

2. Be filled with compassion or warm feeling.

I am part of a small group ministry team, and this was our most recent topic of discussion.  The two eldest members said they yearn for security, especially financial security, since they are now retired and facing uncertainties in their lives.  Our facilitator yearns for change in her life situation.  The other member said she yearns for sunshine, to be outside. 

We never got the word longing substituted into our conversation.  It might have been helpful if we had, but I really enjoyed hearing these different perspectives on yearning.  For myself, I talked about my yearning for being with people to converse and exchange ideas, talk about books, music, movies, religion, philosophy.  The times when I’ve felt the sharpest sense of yearning were when I didn’t have people with whom I could meet and talk and share ideas.

I’m fortunate to be in this small group ministry team because it does nourish me in that way.  I’m also part of a reading and discussion group that is providing so much fellowship and intellectual stimulation for me right now!  

On Saturday I found myself in Border’s to buy a wedding card.  Card selected, I checked the religion section, found one book, which I already own, on the shelf -- I’ll be reading it in yet another group.  I don’t need any cooking books, but I glanced through the ones on discount anyway.  Likewise, with the fiction on clearance, then I headed back to science fiction, found one of my favorite authors, Tad Williams, and discovered that not only is the third book of his newest series done, the fourth is completed as well!  I own neither at this point.

I browsed the rows, up and down, back and forth, saw several authors I’m interested in reading.  Found more intriguing covers, titles that hooked me, series waiting for my start.  I do this at the library too and often come home with more books than I can possible read in two weeks.  It hits me then.  The intense longing for books, and not just books but the yearning to read, and not just reading but the time to read as much as I want.

I walked away with just my wedding card, feeling a little sad and a little silly.