Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 37 verse 4:
"Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart."
The transformation of desire is one of the central processes of the spiritual life. As we grow in the knowledge and love of God and depths of God, God gives us the desires of our hearts.
Notice what the Psalm does not say; it does not say God gives us what our hearts desire. For that there would be no transformation necessary. God would be a giant slot machine, dispensing whatever we ask for. Spare us the God who gives us what our hearts desire! That is idolatry in the first degree.
No, God actually transforms our desires. God takes our old desires and buries them in the Paschal mystery of death and resurrection. In God, our desires are no longer the same because we are no longer the same. God gives us new desires within our hearts because we ourselves are new people in God.
So how does this happen? Where does it begin? We are told it begins in delighting ourselves in the LORD. I take that to me to learn to delight in the eternal things of God - what remains when all shall be said and done. Ultimately, this means to delight ourselves in love because love never ends.
To receive the gift of God's love, to accept it, and delight in being beloved transforms the desires of our hearts. It makes us desire to be not only recipients of God's love, but also givers of it as well. In other words, it changes us to be like God Himself.
We love because He first loved us; and He gives us the gift of being able to delight in His love, and the desire to share it with others.
How beautiful.
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