...But some times I feel this pressing urge to seek out and bring home some lovely or unique object - an unclaimed treasure yet to be known by others. Genetics are a probable culprit, because my mother is a great lover of beauty and from a young age included me on her antiquing adventures.This compulsion is not limited to "things," either (though it usually manifests this way). I find it "necessary" to clean or redecorate our home in some attractive or beautiful way. Or feel anxious to get outside on a gorgeous spring day and explore and take photos. I may try to draw or write something heartfelt or romantic. If I was more skilled and visionary like many of you; I think I would sit and create for hours with a variety of materials: paper, cloth, lace, and beads....
As a young girl, I loved to get lost in the fantasy worlds I found in storybooks and then also within my self-constructed realms of make-believe. There is a bitter-sweetness to this impression which I can only describe as a quiet, gnawing sadness or feeling of homesickness.
Some times I wonder if it is more of a desire to runaway or escape, but not from any particularly bad thing here. More from daily life burdens and expectations or disappointments with myself and in to a more child-like, fairytale, carefree state.
The writer CS Lewis, mentions a similar yearning several times in his works....
If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing — to reach the Mountain, to find the place where all the beauty came from — my country, the place where I ought to have been born. Do you think it all meant nothing, all the longing? The longing for home? For indeed it now feels not like going, but like going back.
, Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold
I also love this quote from The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander,
"There is much to be known," said Adaon, "and above all much to be loved, be it the turn of the seasons or the shape of a river pebble. Indeed, the more we find to love, the more we add to the measure of our hearts."
L is for Longing.
I am joining Jenny Matlock ... off on her tangent... for Alphabe-Thursday. Please take a look at the other L posts and join in here.
Pebbles by nickellis74
I love those quotes and what you wrote, too.
ReplyDeleteI believe St. Augustine said "our hearts are restless until we rest in Thee". Lovely L post!
ReplyDeleteI'm always off in my own little world. Dolls are my therapy and when I'm longing to be someplace else I join them in their little world.
ReplyDeleteTHis is great! I have a friend who collects a lot from the beach, in fact when she moves which she does often (husbands job) you should see her shells, stones, sharks teeth....the movers just about die, she has buckets and buckets!
ReplyDeleteI have a longing too sometimes but can't figure out for what. I think maybe a lot of people feel like that especially when stressed.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post! I love the word longing, it reminds us to think of things we love and want to continue to explore in our lives.
ReplyDeleteYour post has really hit home with me ... I completely relate to it ... especially the second quote by C.S. Lewis ... you do write beautifully ...
ReplyDeleteI am longing to pass my things on to others. We have been blessed with too much.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post and I love the quotes you selected.
ReplyDeleteI, myself, play with imaginary friends. Don't tell my kids. LOL
You gals make me smile and fill my heart with joy!
ReplyDeleteWe should have lunch! You bring a bag of your treasures and I'll bring mine...and we can take turns telling their stories!!
ReplyDeleteI suppose we all have a longing for something. When I was a little girl, I would wish that I was Laura Ingalls Wilder, crossing the prairie in a covered wagon. Now that I am older, even though I am grateful for medical advances and comforts of home, I still long for that simpler life and the wide open spaces.
ReplyDeleteI can totally relate. It's a gift to be able to enjoy the beauty in our lives..you're blessed!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful post about longing. I think we can all relate to longing. Joni
ReplyDeleteyour are a beautiful writer thank you.
ReplyDeletegreat quotes :D
ReplyDeleteOh what a wonderful L post.. Have a great day...
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post. I am always longing for peace in myself.........Sometimes it's there and often I feel stressed.... and more....
ReplyDeleteWhat an absolutely Lovely L post.
ReplyDeleteI know this feeling you write about. It is longing, isn't it?
I think, for me, sometimes it is a way I deal with all the bad stuff I've had in my life.
It is a way I can try and control my own environment and create the peace and beauty that I couldn't find for many years!
Thank you for sharing this.
A+
I am just the opposite. I take great satisfaction in throwing things out. In being as streamlined as possible....except when it comes to books.
ReplyDeleteThat was wonderful. Sometimes I wish I was born in a different time. I long for a time machine, I guess. To travel to a different era. Maybe that's why I collect antiques and love history so much.
ReplyDeleteperfectly perfect for longing!
ReplyDeleteWow. That really got me thinking. I long, too. For what I don't know. For peace, for contentment, for happiness and fulfillment. But I guess that's a part of being alive, too...definitely worth musing over.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet story! I enjoyed the quotes you used. I hopped over from Alphabe-Thursday and am so happy that I did. Please accept my invitation to drop in at my place one day this week when you get a moment. I have become a follower and hope you will do the same. until later
ReplyDeleteSuch a lovely post...I love stones and can see many intriguing ones in that fine photograph. Good job:-)
ReplyDeletei understand exactly what you are saying...
ReplyDeleteLonging is a great L! I love to go "treasure hunting" at the flea markets and thrift stores.
ReplyDeleteOh very nice, Steph! Do you remember in "Surprised by Joy" when C.S. talks about one of the few things he could remember making as a child? He and his brother created a little mini woodland with moss and plants and he was so delighted by it. I remember being in the fifth grade and making a Hopi village in the mud with my best friend. I guess it is a kind of longing... imagining...dreaming. Your post describes it beautifully!
ReplyDeleteSteph this was such a lovely post and "longing" was a perfect L" word! I long for many things but I am also content to know that sometimes the longing itself is part of the pleasure and it alone can be enough.
ReplyDeleteThis was a beautiful post about a beautiful word. Longing. I know that word.
ReplyDeleteWonderful post! I enjoyed it!
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