In a classic book called Quest for God, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel writes of our longing to know God. In my early adult years, I found Heschel’s poetic words comforting in my own never-ending search – my quest – for God.
Questing a spiritual practice, a way of praying and being. The word “quest” comes from a Latin root, quaerere, which means to seek. No matter our age, our days are filled with questing: “Why, Mommy?” “Will I be able to find a meaningful job?” “Why has cancer taken the lives of so many people I love?” “Where are you, God?”
Questing stretches our minds and our souls. It’s a way of acknowledging our dependence and our lack of certainty about so much of life. It helps us make more of ourselves and more of life. It makes us human.
May each of us live life as questers on journey with God and with one another. May we find in our questing the deep joy and wonder that characterize the spirit of God and a life worth living.
This message is excerpted from “Questing as prayer” by Julie K. Aageson in the January/February 2016 Gather magazine.
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