Accumulated longings

God of our salvation, all our longing is known to you, our sighing is not hidden from you …

So begins one of today’s prayers in the prayer book I use. Quite appropriately, as it turns out, for I do a lot of longing and a lot of sighing. Indeed, it seems like the older I get, the more longings I accumulate. I took an hour to make a partial list today.

I’m a parent, so my longing very often begins at home. I long for a good future for my kids, for them to make wise choices, for them to find ways to express their gifts and dispositions in ways that benefit themselves and others, for them to chart a course in the world that aligns with who and how God has made them, for them to respond in faith and glad obedience to their Creator. I long for them to love and to be loved well. I long for them to encounter acceptance and goodness far beyond what I could never secure for them.