An Easy Bake oven. Rocky Road ice cream. A baby monkey. A handsome husband.

A Pong game. A better teacher. An awesome locker partner. A pink satin jacket. A handsome husband.

A part time job. A day without back pain. A worthy win. A handsome (and passionate) husband.

A drivers license. A stereo with cassette player. An acceptance letter. A good roommate. A godly (and hopefully handsome) husband.

Another part time job. A way to love a hard-to-love friend. A chance to share Jesus. A decent haircut.

A great marriage. A full time job. A car that would run. A healthy baby. A house of our own. A strong sense of purpose. A miracle for Linda. A message to speak. A new gift of grace. A friend I could trust.

A green light. A paid bill. A break in my speaking schedule. A chance to get away.

All these things I have prayed for at some time in my life. Some important, some not at all. Some long-lasting (23 years with the handsome, passionate man of my dreams), some just vapor (Pong, anyone?)

My heart fairly tumbles over itself with desires and dreams and strategies and schemes. It churns and spins over words and wants and sometimes forgets that all of life…all that I need…everything that works and wins is captured in One Thing.

One desire.

And from that desire springs…well, everything else. Over the past few months, as His presence has become the first and favorite priority of my life, Psalm 27 has become the distillation of my 42-year wish list…the anthem of my existence. Everything. And as I read it this morning, I was amazed to find my own heart woven in the words. I laughed and cried and all I could say is: finally. It’s good to finally and fully want the only thing that I can truly have.

Psalm 27:4-5 I’m asking God for one thing, only one thing: to live with Him in His house my whole life long. I’ll contemplate His beauty; I’ll study at His feet. That’s the only quiet, secure place in a noisy world, the perfect getaway from the buzz of traffic.

5 Comments

  1. Congratulations. You’ve done what I’ve always hoped and dreamed and wished was possible but wasn’t entirely sure it was. How wonderful that it has been done by the one person whom I wish the most to be like and am so very inherently similar to. i want you to know that I’m trying. It hasn’t looked that way for a little while, but I really, truly am. I hope someday to be everything you think I can be. Love, your daughter.

  2. Jessica Carpenter

    So… I just have to pursue God for 20 more years and I’ll be able to stop praying for a handsome husband with astonishingly good character :). Meanwhile… we still patiently await The Ultimate List for the Optimistic but Indefinitely Single Gal! Thanks for all the great blogging Bo- you’re so encouraging!

    If you’re still looking for yet more books for your parenting class, I’ve heard Parenting with Love and Logic is quite good!

  3. Ah, beautiful Tori…you are real. You’re not made of marshmallow and you’re not a copy of anyone else. You are real, and real people…keep trying and seeking and winning and losing and worshiping in the middle of all the noise of life. I love you more than words can say and I know this beyond everything else: He will be found by you.

  4. Jessica, two things: 1) Why does it still shock me that I am 20 years older than you…than anyone? Yikes! 2) I feel that you totally have the anointing to write The List because that’s the most inspired title I’ve ever heard! However, I do feel that almost-21 is a little early in life to employ the word “Indefinitely”. I miss you – come visit soon.

  5. why do i so often cry when i read what you write?
    simply amazing.

    this is inspiring and encouraging. I know that in 20 years i will write a blog post and say FINALLY! I will also say it many times between now and then… but i am excited for then to look back at now and say WOW and FINALLY!