Graham says the “born wanderer is always expecting to come on something very wonderful—beyond the horizon’s rim.” He further explains that this “makes the desire to wander or explore almost incurable.”

The Germans have a name for it. Sehnsucht is their word for “longing.” Commenting on sehnsucht, C.S. Lewis says it is the “inconsolable crux of the human condition, an ache that reminds us of that eternal joy and beauty for which we were made.”

Bingo!

Remember a couple of blogs back I quoted Graham saying that nature would teach “what is beautiful and who you are and what your special quest is in life”? Maybe that’s why we are always longing for something wonderful just over the horizon.

It’s not just that we might see a beautiful landscape or spectacular natural phenomenon (think of Niagara Falls or the aurora borealis). Maybe we are being pulled toward a joy and destiny that nature only reflects, as moonbeams bouncing off a radiant sun. And maybe that destiny is not only temporal but eternal.