Desire...Good or Bad?

"You called, and shouted, and burst my deafness.
You flashed and shone, and scattered my blindness.
You breathed odors and I drew in breath—and I pant for You.
I tasted, and I hunger and thirst.
You touched me, and I burned for Your peace."
~St. Augustine, Confessions

What does it mean to truly desire something? To me, desire means feeling almost irrevocably drawn to something or someone. Some of us desire the opportunity for service: to be able to make this world a little better by our actions. College students often desire a vision for their lives. It would save us a lot of trouble if we simply had a career path laid out for us to follow, without this silly discernmet process that can really be quite a headache. A lot of us females desire a family, having kids, being married, sometimes we even just desire having a boyfriend. But in reality, I think that the desires we have for things here on earth are really products of our misguided search for God and His purpose in our lives. Earlier in IConfessions, St. Augustine talks about being distracted by and desiring things which "if they were not in [God] were not at all." He describes God calling and shouting, opening our eyes and ears in order to find Him, through the things of this world. Doesn't it make sense that God plants in our hearts a desire for Him and His will, since He knows what is best for us and what will make us happiest?

When people desire anything to an excessive degree, they immediately lose their peace of soul."
~Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

My friend has told me about some recurring feelings she has for a mutual friend of ours. He is a good young man, a solid Christian keeper. But she doesn't understand why they won't go away, because she doesn't want to act on them and claims to not be at a stage in her life where dating/courtship is prudent. So are these desires of her heart wrong? While thinking about this, I remembered a question Father Jarrod Lies asked us once in a homily. He asked: "Where are your desires leading you?" And I think that is the more appropriate question.

In harmony with St. Augustine and Thomas A Kempis' words, I would say that genuine desires are not necessarily good or bad; they are simply the motivation of our hearts toward finding the presence of God. We look for love and peace wherever possible, and the multitude of broken hearts and unplanned pregnancies in this world result from trying to find it in the wrong places. The desire for love is not of itself good or bad; it is where we allow that desire to take us and what means we use to achieve the end of love that determines our "peace of soul." We might desire food when we're hungry, growth in a new friendship, a good grade on a test. We might find ourselves overwhelmed with desires for material things, for wordly success, for lust. But if we offer these desires up to God, He will lead us through them, because He knows that these things we seem to want are part of our search for His love. He knows that He is what we really desire.

Peace and grace to you!
April :)

PS-Comment please!