A Longing to Answer the Call within Us

/ moragnoffke

This is a little metaphoric story of a longing for meaning or purpose. I wrote it for a group of writing friends last week. I chose a painting of Vincent van Gogh as my prompt; he has been one of my favorite artists since a young girl. We had several copies of his paintings in our house. This painting shows the view of Arles, Flowering Orchards, 1889 by Vincent Van Gogh https://www.vincentvangogh.org/view-of-arles-flowering-orchards.jsp

A Longing to Answer the Call within Us.

Do you see that lovely home caught by the sunlight? Its welcoming warmth seems so familiar. This soul has longed for a home like that for years yet it stands hidden behind the orchard trees gazing out in wistfulness almost as if she is dreaming. There have been so many excuses:

  • “I would have to come out from hiding”;
  • “I would have to cross the farmlands and I don’t know if I am allowed to cross it”;
  • “the home is too close to the city, I like the life of an onlooker”.
  • “I deserve to be a lowly fruit picker after all it is a very important job to help provide the town with fruit”.

What this soul has forgotten is that she was born in that house, which is why it is so familiar and why she hears it’s call. She feels like she belongs to the orchard when the orchard actually belongs to her. The orchard’s fruitfulness is her fruitfulness but she is born for more than picking fruit. Her calling is to be fruitful and to share it with her kinsman. The key is in being, not doing. When she arrives home there will be a great celebration.

“It’s a longing, an aching to complete ourselves, to unite with that which makes us whole. We are longing for God the way a soldier longs for his wife faraway. It’s a relentless homesickness that, however desperately we try, will accept no substitutes.”

Arianna Huffington

I believe that the longing draws me closer to be the person I am meant or created to be; that is the most satisfying place to live. What are your thoughts?

Take care,

38 thoughts on “A Longing to Answer the Call within Us”

  1. I resonate deeply with what you wrote. I find that I am discovering that my journey and hunger for home is the call to go back to who I was born as, who I learned to mold and shape and hide into a form that would somehow perhaps please others more…. at the cost of my soul. I find that I don’t need to blame and be angry anymore…. Instead I need to break free, let go of those false faces, and allow my Self, my Home, to re-emerge and claim her/my sacred space. And I can feel the deep vibration within saying “Welcome Home. ” I’m so grateful to be coming Home.

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  2. Morag, I think I have become who I wanted and was called to be. I certainly have more to learn and grow into, but I have developed or learned to be at peace with my past and live in the present, while glancing at the future periodically. I learn from my experiences, the experiences of others;
    nature, my friends and family. The call for me now is to learn, look up what I don’t know, love freely, experience nature to the fullest and do what I can to help if and where.

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  3. Beautiful Morgan. The longing for home is within us. I find the yearning coming around time and time again. Sadly my home does not look anything like it did when I lived there, but I still have my memories within me. Yearning for a home beyond ourselves in the spiritual sense is also very real. Well done.
    Dwight

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  4. This is so beautiful, Morag. Thank you for sharing it.
    Yes, I relate to what you’ve written here … that longing to return to the familiar … and yet also feeling slightly out of synch – in the midst of the familiar.
    I think we all have a spiritual longing within us. I also feel that society somewhat discourages us from pursuing the spiritual – which, I believe, would bring us a greater sense of peace and contentment.

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    • Thank you, I am glad you can relate😉 you put it so well. Society is at a interesting place philosophically and technologically which are both huge influences on it. We are open to losing ourselves in ever more increasing ways as humans nevertheless we still have a yearning. I agree… I experience that peace and contentment as I pursue the spiritual. Thank you for reading and commenting. Take care.

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  6. It’s so relatable to me. When I first left my home for employment, I used to fall sick often, but would be alright just after setting my foot in my home town. This post is very beautiful. I liked this line..the key is in being, not doing.🙏

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  7. Dear Morag, what an amazing post. I think that the pandemic has had some part in me thinking along these lines too but I also believe it has something to do with my age. Being retired from work and able to do almost anything within reason, has loosened many of the ties to the past. Also, in the space of a few years, many elderly family members have passed away and that actually leaves me feeling as if my boat has been cut free of its mooring; so again more thoughts of longing for a safe harbour. I cannot be the boy I was 70 years ago only the man I am today! 🙏

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    • Dear Ashley, thank you for your lovely response. Being retired opens up new avenues and possibilities certainly and on the other hand it does bring one closer to one’s own mortality. I think of the pomegranate’s meaning of both life and death. It holds a legacy within too. May your journey be filled with the blessings of blossoms and fruits(wisdom). Take care and have a lovely weekend. 🙋‍♀️🌷

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  9. Hello Morag — yes, I believe that when we are one with our heart and soul we can therefore listen to God and then that is when we are really home. I agree that ‘being’ is more important than ‘doing’, because this is where the real growth takes place — growth within us and that also radiates out towards others.
    By the way, I also love Van Gogh and I really enjoyed the 2018 animated and very creative film about him called ‘Loving Vincent’. If you haven’t yet seen it, I highly recommend it!
    Bye for now and have a lovely day xxx

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    • Thank you, I love what you said about growth within us that radiates out towards others. That is is exactly my experience. I will look out for ‘loving Vincent’. Thank you for the suggestion. Enjoy your weekend 🙋‍♀️🌷xx

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  13. I’m especially drawn to the first few lines by Arianna Huffington “It’s a longing, an aching to complete ourselves, to unite with that which makes us whole.” Maybe Van Gogh was longing for this wholeness? Sadly his psychological struggles overpowered his life and yet, because of his willpower, resilience and perseverance, he is also remembered as a very influential painter. I’m reminded here of my soul and I’m also conscious of what it radiates. Thank you for a lovely post ❤

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  15. Thank you Morag for these deeply personal and yet universally felt words of wisdom. The need to belong and to have meaning in our lives is so powerful. When it eludes, the pain and longing is too much. Hugs from Canada, Alisen

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