How to get what you want.

I was talking with Adam and Keith today about art and poetry. One of those postmodern conversations that you have in an endless Saturday at the coffee shop. The kind of conversation that can take a million twists and turns, and end up at either nothing, or give you great insight. The latter happened to me today.

We talked about how art and poetry use to be ways to express 2 things: truth and beauty. But somewhere along the line, creating art and poetry have become the ends in themselves. Not the avenues to truth and beauty. It is no longer that people want truth and beauty, they want art and poetry, so now I sit down to create a great piece of art, or write a great piece of poetry. I am no longer looking to express truth and beauty. This is when art and poetry die. They become boring and meaningless.

When I have truth and beauty inside of me, sometimes a good weblog entry comes out of it, but never do I have a good weblog entry when I think, "man, I want to write a good weblog entry".

Have you ever looked at the big wide sky at night in the country and, out of the corner of your eye, seen one bright star? You look straight at it, because you have to see it, but the interesting phenomena happens that it appears brighter when you don't look directly at it. It's the same way with everything that is beautiful and fulfilling. They come as surprises. They come as the byproduct of something else.

Art only happens when you aren't seeking art. A great conversation only happens when you aren't thinking of how to have a great conversation. Love only happens when you aren't craving love.

But the one thing that you can seek and get is God. And the cool thing that happens is that all sorts of other beautiful things happen in your life when you seek God. Your heart changes. You begin to want God. And when you want God, and aren't in control of what you will get, you appreciate all the surprises He brings you as a byproduct of His goodness.

The Bible tells us this: Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven, and all these other things will be added to you.

So what is the answer? How do you get what you want? Simple. Change what you want. Want God. Love God for God. Know Jesus Christ. Pursue Him. Find Him. There are endless depths to His character and His love. All the art, beauty, poetry, and loves in the world do not compare to His friendship alone. And most often, we are better off without the extras to distract us from Jesus Christ.

Be God's tonight. Love Him and want Him.