Settling

From Daily Readings by Wild at Heart by John Eldredge

June 10, 2026 · 2 min

About this episode

This episode discusses the importance of pursuing true desire and awakening from a life of resignation and despair.

The only fatal error is to pretend that we have found the life we prize. To mistake the water hole for the sea. To settle for the same old thing. Christopher Fry called such a life “the sleep of prisoners.” The most tragic day of all is to prefer slavery to freedom, to prefer death to life. We must not stay in this sleep. The time has come for us to wake, to arise from our slumber. As the Scriptures say, “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead” (Eph. 5:14). And so George MacDonald prayed, When I can no more stir my soul to move, And life is but the ashes of a fire; When I can but remember that my heart Once used to live and love, long and aspire— Oh, be thou then the first, the one thou art; Be thou the calling, before all answering love, And in me wake hope, fear, boundless desire. (George MacDonald, Diary of an Old Soul ) Bringing our heart along in our life’s journey is the most important mission of our lives—and the hardest. It all turns on what we do with our desire. If you will look around, you will see that most people have abandoned the journey. They have lost heart. They are camped in places of resignation or indulgence, or trapped in prisons of despair. I understand; I…

People in this episode

Host: John Eldredge

Topics covered

desire
freedom
spiritual awakening
life journey
resignation
hope

Keywords

desire
freedom
spirituality
awakening
life journey
hope
resignation

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Diary of an Old Soul, Eph. 5:14