"What do you want me to do for you?"

Can you imagine Jesus pulling up a chair across from you, leaning forward with genuine curiosity, and inquiring of your greatest desire?

"What do you want me to do for you?"

It's the question Jesus posed of the blind man, Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52), and undoubtedly of others who sought him out.

What would you ask Jesus to do for you?

Bartimaeus' reply was quick, but by no means impulsive.

He didn't have to think long to name the desire of his heart. He had imagined it every day when awake; he had dreamed of it every night when asleep:

"Master, I want to see."

The object of Bartimaeus' desire was tangible. He wanted to see things. The rising and setting of the sun on the distant horizon; the brilliant colors of Jericho's marketplace; the harsh contours of his father Timothy's face.

And yet Bartimaeus' longing to physically see things likely reflected a deeper desire for the intangible--a desire for spiritual sight, or illumination. This deeper desire is evident when, having received his sight, he followed Jesus.

George Macdonald once observed--perhaps better as a poet/philosopher than as a theologian: "Never tell a child, 'you have a soul.' Teach him, 'you are a soul; you have a body.'" Just so, the tangible desires of the body--a desire for something we can see, hear, smell, taste, and touch--most often reflects the deeper, intangible desires of the soul.

And yet, to our chagrin, the body tends to be a poor--and not altogether honest--interpreter of the desires of the soul. The body might try to satisfy the soul's cry for intimacy through casual indiscretion, the soul's quest for peace by anesthetizing the pain, the soul's longing for fulfillment with compulsive consumption.

Again, what would you ask Jesus to do for you?

What is the desire of your heart?

And, perhaps, more importantly, what is the heart of your desire?

What's the advantage of moving from the initial tangible desire to naming the underlying intangible desire?

How might Jesus be most capable of satisfying your deeply held value?

Can you--do you--trust Jesus with your deepest desire?