I was having bedside chat with my little 8 year-old nephew tonight. It went like this:

Nephew: Sigh... my life is very difficult...

Me: Why is that?

Nephew: Because I can't get everything I want.

Me: What do you want that you can't get?

Nephew: I want maaaaany things. But I can't get them.

Me: What are they?

Nephew: I want a DS, I want a PS, I want a DVD player of my own, I want a CD player, and many other things. But I can't have all of them.

Me: Yeah, I know what you mean. There are also many things that Uncle Sherman wants but cannot have. The same goes for your daddy and mummy.

Nephew: Huh???

Me: Yes. You think grownups can have everything we want eh? Not true. But we have learned to be contented with what we already have.

It was a big life lesson for this cute little man tonight. He thought that grownups always have what they want.

And so begins this little boy's lifelong search for rest - rest from desire. And one day, he may perhaps discover that the only thing that can quench the deepest desire in man's heart is, as St Augustine said, GOD.

Even some grownups never manage to find that rest they seek, hopping from one object of desire to another, eventually turning themselves into what St Augustine called "human wasteland" (regio egestasis).

"You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts will be restless until we find our rest in you."