Hello there, friend,
The particular brand of Christianity I grew up with was very much about denial -- the world is a scary place, it's the devil's playground, we must deny ourselves, etc. This isn't at all what I believe as an adult. It took some undoing, but I finally realized that beauty has a place in our world and in our lives. We should appreciate the good and beautiful things in the natural world and within contexts we can create: our homes, our clothing, our creative endeavors. God made beautiful things, and he wants us to enjoy them.
When we talk about desire, I find it to be much the same. Desire is good, just as the natural world and all of its beauty is good. Just as God created the world, he created our hearts and all of the desires within -- the basics desires for love and belonging, and the more particular ones about what we should to do with our lives. I find it freeing to think that what I desire, that feeling I have about what I truly want, comes from God.
I think that's why it's so important for us to be listening, to strip away all of the voices and distractions and listen for that voice within. Perhaps this is why you want to take a break from social media, and why I have been feeling that way too. We want to tune in and listen to what's going on inside us. It's so hard to do that when we're constantly flooding ourselves with images and other voices. We need more quiet, more stillness -- at least, I do.
xo,
L
