A significant portion of my current thinking about living as a human being in a manner that God intends us to live can be traced back to the writing of Dr. Gerald G. May in his wonderful book Addiction and Grace.*  He begins with these great words of truth:

After twenty years of listening to the yeaings of people’s hearts, i am convinced that all human beings have an inborn desire for God.  Whether we are consciously religious or not, this desire is our deepest longing and our most precious treasure.  It gives us meaning.  Some of us have repressed this desire, burying it beneath so many other interests that we are completely unaware of it.  Or we may experience it in different ways – as a longing for wholeness, completion, or fulfillment.  Regardless of how we describe it, it is a longing for love.  It is a hunger to love, to be loved, and to move closer to the Source of love.  This yearning is the essence of the human spirit; it is the origin of our highest hopes and most noble dreams. (1)

*May, Gerald G.  Addiction and Grace.  San Francisco:  Harper and Row, Publishers, 1988.