We each have a need for purpose, for meaning, we know (hidden though it may be or buried under layers of the muck of life) that we are meant for more than just a nihilistic existence where in the end nothing matters. Humanity was created for a purpose and the purpose is to know, love, and serve God. Unfortunately, because of original sin and concupiscence this desire for God is often twisted into something that it was never meant to be.
We all try daily to fill this need for God in different ways. Some turn to the abuse of drugs and alcohol to dull the pain to make themselves forget this desire for purpose. In the same vein people turn to food to try and satisfy a desire for sometime greater. Others try to find there meaning in sex, turning to another human being to satisfy all of there desires, using them in subtle (or sometimes not so subtle) ways to fulfill there desires. Others turn to work (or their studies) becoming driven and trying to win in business and in their careers at all costs even if it means forgetting their moral and ethical standards. Some turn to the arts and music trying to forget everything else.
If we look at each of these things what we find is that they are all good things given to us by God but that when we try and fulfill our need for God with them they fall short (because they are not God) and we are left empty, broken, and searching for our next "high". What we have to realize is that nothing, nothing, nothing, will ever fulfill our desire for God except God himself. In the words of St. Augustine:
"You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you" Confessions (Lib 1,1-2,2.5,5)
The funny thing is that even though intellectually I may know that God is my desire sometimes my heart and head do not connect. Pray that I can make this connection and have the faith and courage to follow God where he leads me.
