I am convinced that we all long for the presence of God with a deep, aching hunger, a hunger as sure as the hunger for food, but with this difference–we do not always know how to fill it. We do not always know what we are looking for.

Saint Augustine observed that our hearts are restless until they find the rest that is found only in God. Philosopher Blaise Pascal made a similar point by saying that each of us is born with an empty place in our hearts–a void–that is in the shape of God, and that means that nothing and no one else can entirely or ultimately fill it.

This empty space is not a square hole or anything as simple as that, but a complex, hungering, God-shaped space where only God fits and only God can fill.

We can try to fill that space with other things–human relationships, careers, or other earthly pursuits–but they will sooner or later leave us unsatisfied. Which means that our task is to learn what we are looking for and whom we are looking for.

from Jesus is the Question