What is the desire of your heart? These words from the Hindu scriptures
help us begin thinking about what the desires of our hearts are: “As a
person acts, so he becomes in life. Those who do good become good;
those who harm become bad. Good deeds make one pure; bad deeds
make one impure. So, we are said to be what our desire is. As our desire
is, so is our will. As our will is, so are our acts. As we act, we become.”
(Brihad- Aranyaka Upanishad, Hinduism).
As we become conscious of our desires, we begin manifesting our destiny. We need to voice those desires if we want them to become reality.
In the Gospel of Matthew, we hear Jesus’s words:
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and
it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the
one who seeks fnds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a
stone? Or if he asks for a fsh, will give him a serpent? If you then,
who are evil, know how to give good gifs to your children, how
much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to
those who ask him! (Matthew 7:7–11 ESV, Christianity)
Jesus wanted people to articulate their desire to God and trust that
God would provide. How often do we not voice our desire because we
think it can never come true? Many people desire unity and
peace with one another but think it is impossible to achieve, so they
give up before they even try.
What are the desires of your heart? What is the story you want to
create for your life? Many of us live out the story given
by our parents or from our surroundings. You do not need to settle for
that life; you can create your own story.
“The merchant of death is dead,” blasted a French newspaper in
April 1888, bidding good riddance to Swedish inventor and arms man-
manufacturer Alfred Nobel, who “became rich by finding ways to kill more
people faster than ever before.” Pretty harsh words for an obituary,
especially when its subject was still very much alive. But even if the
rumors of his demise were greatly exaggerated, the inventor of dyna-
mite was not about to let the details of his legacy be similarly blown out
of proportion. So Nobel set out to ensure that his name would forever
be tied to humankind’s highest achievements and not its destructive
potential.1
It was a regrettable mistake that nonetheless afforded Nobel the rare
opportunity to read his obituary. “It pained him so much he never
forgot it,” says Kenne Fant in Alfred Nobel: A Biography, and the greedy
inventor “became so obsessed with his posthumous reputation” that
he would not rest until he had crafted “a cause upon which no future
obituary writer would be able to cast aspersions.”2
His desire to leave a legacy he could be proud of motivated him to bequeath his fortune to institute the Nobel Prize.
As you reflect on the desires of your heart and what it is that you want to come into reality for your life, read the following scriptures.
REFLECT ON THESE SCRIPTURES FROM DIFFERENT FAITH SOURCES
And as is his desire, so is his will, and as is his will, so is his deed,
and whatever deed he does, that he will reap. (the Upanishads,
vol. 2, Brihad- Aranyaka Upanishad, pt. 3, Hinduism)
No one can save us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We
must walk the path. (Buddha, Buddhism)
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of
your heart. (Psalm 37:4 ESV, Judaism)
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew
6:21 ESV, Christianity)
By the . . . soul, and Him who perfected it and inspired it with
conscience of what is wrong for it and right for it: He is indeed
successful who causes it to grow, and he is indeed a failure who
stunts it. (Qur’an 91:7–10, Islam)
Enjoy the fruits of your mind’s desire; all sufering and sorrow
shall depart. (Guru Granth Sahib, Siree Raag 35:24, Sikhism)
If you desire with all your heart, friendship with every race on
earth, your thought, spiritual and positive, will spread; it will
become the desire of others, growing stronger and stronger, until
it reaches the minds of all men. (Bahá’u’lláh’s Teachings on Spiritual Reality, Baha’i)
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
- Is there one of these scriptures that connects with your heart
as you think about your desire?
- Is there a desire that you have not planted and nurtured in
your heart and mind? What is it?
- What has stopped you from bringing your desire into reality?
CALL TO ACTION FOR TODAY
Write your desire and the steps to bring it into reality.
CLOSING PRAYER FROM THE JEWISH TRADITION
Sometimes, the fruit of our labor and the fulfillment of our desires are not readily apparent.
In times of discouragement, may we always remember that just as God has “returned us from
captivity” and reversed our fortunes in the past, so, too, God will reward our present efforts/ Our only task is to align our intention with God