When I was working through the weekend getaway material of the Tour de Bliss before the tour got started, I was given the opportunity to take an introductory snapshot of my work as it presently is configured. There was a wide-angle view of things I'm doing now, and then there was a chance for a close-up shot.

The close-up shot asked me to list the things that are going great right now, followed by the question, "What is the thing I most desperately desire?"

My answer to that question is this:

To make a full-time living doing e-mail spiritual direction and writing.

That's it. Two things.

Nothing would make me happier in all the world than for my daily work to be composed of those two very simple components -- of meeting other people in the truth of their hearts and lives with God and of articulating the ways he has met and is meeting me in those same ways and places.

And yet I had to ask myself, "Am I not thinking big enough?" (I actually wrote that question in a big thought-bubble on the page.) Writing and e-mail spiritual direction -- that's it?

But then I thought a moment.

I looked again at those words I had written about what I most desperately desired. And I took a moment to notice what I love most about our life here in this little cottage where we live -- that it's the simple pleasures of this home and our life that I love so much. I love the quiet of the morning. I love the space for prayer and reflection and writing that each day affords me. I love being cozied up with Kirk and the kitties each night. I love simple, delicious meals. I love our little village church and its quirky character.

The truth is, I want a simple, faithful life.

That was a new, confident realization for me that day. A simple, faithful life: that's all I want.

A chance to hear and notice God in the lives of other people, and a chance to articulate God's work in my own life. A simple, faithful life. That's what this year on the tour is helping me clarify and create as I keep moving forward in my life's work.