One thing I have desired...

This seems like a simple question; but, if I have to narrow it down to just one thing, I find some many thoughts and ideas flood my mind. 

I want to live a life of safety and security, where there is a warm bed at night, food in my cupboards and a hot cup of coffee to start my day...clean and uncomplicated. I want to live a healthy life, free of pain and disease, full of vitality and clear-mindedness. I want to live long with the love of my life, my husband of nearly 35 years, and enjoy deep, close, nurturing relationships with my beautiful children. And I want my life to matter in this world...I want to serve others, bring help and encouragement to the suffering, the downtrodden and the lost. 

But is there just one thing...?

What if...

...I am no longer safe in my home, or fire ravages and destroys all I own? Or my personal security is breached and I lose my savings or my identity?

...I become sick or my body no longer cooperates with what my mind wants it to do? Or what if my mind fails all together?

...John passes away, leaving me to live my days in an empty house, filled with nothing more than silence and memories? Or I lose my children, through circumstances beyond my control...death, distance, betrayal?

...I am unable to serve others, through physical limitation or financial hardship...or I cannot speak or write?

Is there just one thing? Truly, one thing? 

Today, I sit at my kitchen table, 36 years since I received new life in Christ, and I can look back at my life, how circumstances change, and people come and go. Every day I remember that my life is fleeting, but I long to hold on, cling to something sure and steadfast; I need to anchor myself to something that doesn't move, doesn't shift with the wind or the waves

"One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, the delightfulness of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple." Psalm 127:4

"But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit."  

Jeremiah 17:7-8

"I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence 
of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”

Philippians 3:8